Hercules Shadow the Hedgehog Crossover!
by ckaira77
Summary: Another story where I replace movie characters with Sonic characters. If you've watched the Disney movie of Hercules and liked it, I recommend this.
1. Chapter 1

ZairaDrayan: Quick note to the people reading. I have been getting into a sort of slump. In other words, I've been losing a lot of my inspiration. There are many movies that I want to do a Sonic version of. If you want me to make a list, I'll make one so you know what'll be coming eventually. So yeah, Hercules. It's the first thing that peaked my interest. Why Shadow? How about Knuckles?! Well, not just anybody can be Philoctetes! And why not Sonic? I guess that I could have…, but that would mean that I'd have to make Tails Pegasus and either Silver or Shadow as Sonic's father… Uh… It might have worked out… Also, when he was being terrorized by a herd of girls, I just shook my head and said, "Shadow, you are too popular…" Besides, he's the only one who really questions his existence like Hercules does, so that's my logic. Anyways, I don't own Hercules or Sonic. They belong to Disney and SEGA! Enjoy!

Character list

Shadow/Hercules

Silver/Pegasus (Has the brain of a bird XD)

Knuckles/Philoctetes

Zaira/Meg (Don't ask. If you do, I'll just say that I don't know what you're talking about).

Hades/Dr. Eggman (Either Eggman or Black Doom. I would make him Black Doom, but they don't quite have the same personalities).

Pain and Panic/Orbot and Cubot

Zeus/Sonic (Personality will be severely changed because I was out of ideas. I know the thunderbolt hurling is Shadow's power, but let's just say he gets that from his father… I just made it weird didn't I…?)

Hera/Amy (Saw that one coming)

Other gods/Other Sonic characters who I see worthy

Five godesses of art and proclaimers of heroes/ Blaze, Rouge, Sonia, Cream, and Tikal

Alcmene/ Cosmo (Don't hate me for this!)

Amphitryon/Tails (I didn't have any ideas…)

ZairaDrayan: Okay… The characters may be a little weird, but that's what the universe gave me. If you don't care, thank you. If you do care, good luck with finding another story about this. Okay! Chapter 1!

Chapter 1

The story first starts in a room full of artwork showing all of the great people of Greece who will forever be remembered for their deeds. Although, in the middle of a large clearing is a vase with the picture of one person in particular. A voice appears out of nowhere.

"Long ago, in the faraway land of ancient Greece, there was a golden age of powerful gods and extraordinary heroes. And the greatest and strongest of all these heroes was the mighty Shadow the Hedgehog. But what is the measure of a true hero? Ah, that is what our story is-" said a random space voice.

"Would you listen to him? He's makin' the story sound like sound Greek tragedy!" Sonia exclaimed. She was with Blaze, Cream, Rouge, and Tikal. They all nodded in agreement.

"Listen up, dude, we'll be taking it from here!" Rouge said holding up her hand to the narrator.

"Yeah, we'll be taking it from here, darling!" Tikal said.

"You go, girls."

"We are the Muses. Goddesses of the arts and proclaimers of the heroes," Tikal explained. She pointed around the room. Cream hopped up onto the vase (They were all a really small size).

"Heroes like Shadow!" she said.

"Yeah! Bow your head low! All hail Shadow! King of the forever remembered heroes!" Rouge said gazing into his eyes.

All of them begin to hum to themselves.

"Our story actually begins long before Shadow ever existed! Many eons ago…," Tikal said.

All five of them begin to sing.

 _Back when the world was new,_

 _The planet Earth was down on its luck._

 _And everywhere gigantic brutes_

 _called Titans ran amok!_

 _It was a nasty place!_

 _There was a mess wherever you stepped._

 _Where Chaos reigned and earthquakes_

 _and volcanoes never slept!_

 _And then came Sonic-_

 _He used his spin attack-_

 _He zapped!_

 _Locked those suckers in a vault!_

 _They're trapped!_

 _And on his own stopped Chaos in its tracks._

 _And that's the gospel truth!_

 _The guy was too type A to just relax._

 _And that's the world's first dish._

 _He tamed the globe while still in his youth._

 _Though, honey, it may seem imposs'ble-_

 _That's the gospel truth!_

 _On mount Olympus life was neat_

 _and smooth as sweet vermouth._

 _Though, honey, it may seem imposs'ble-_

 _That's the gospel truth!_

They all gathered around a plate with a picture of Mt. Olympus on it. Slowly the mountain picture is replaced with the real thing. Up in the clouds the gods and goddesses were celebrating the birth of a new god. Well, a hedgehog to be precise. A young black hedgehog with tiny red stripes was curled up in a defensive ball due to the noise from all of the other gods. He slowly unrolled and looked around. When Amy (his mother) approached, he rolled back into a tiny ball and made his spikes more noticeable. Amy shook her head at the little hedgehog.

"Shadow, I'd think that even you would recognize me!" she said waving her finger at him like Sonic would do.

"Hey, the finger wag is my gig! So, that's Shadow! Dark color, red racing stripes, pointy eyes, you know, not rounded like mine, and crimson colored eyes! Wonder who he gets that from?" Sonic said looking at him. Shadow uncurled really fast and sat up straight.

"Not bad reflexes too! Just like me!" Sonic said.

"Excuse me! Coming through! Hyperactive bee flying on through! Pardon me!" yelled a bee flying towards Amy.

"Why Charmy, what brings you here in such a hurry?" asked Amy.

"It's just that I had to present you with these flowers! I mean, we haven't had an occasion like this in thousands of years!" Charmy exclaimed presenting Amy with a bunch of glowing flowers.

"They're lovely Charmy!" Amy exclaimed taking them off of his hands and taking a deep breath of their enchanting aroma. She sighs as she exhales.

"Yeah! You know, I haven't seen so much love in one room since Black Narcissus discovered himself!" Charmy said pointing to the metarex leader looking at himself in a mirror.

Shadow saw Sonic spin into a spin attack and rocket over to the other end of the room to talk to Black Narcissus. He got into the same position Sonic was in and concentrated on how to do it. He first started off in a little clumsy spin attack. Then he spun into the perfect one. The spin launched him forward and almost off of Mount Olympus.

"Shadow!" Amy yelled in alarm.

"I've got him!" yelled Mighty the Armadillo. He pulled out a large sword and used it as a bat to send him soaring in another direction. He knocked over Sonic who had no idea that Shadow was even trying to copy him. They landed face-to-face on the ground. Sonic giggled sheepishly.

"Well…, I guess he got my quick thinking too…," Sonic said.

"He is your son," Amy told him.

"Right!" Sonic stood up. "On behalf of our son, I'd like to thank you for all of these wonderful gifts!" Sonic motions his hand towards the large pile of gold that was six times taller than Sonic. "I'm pretty sure that Shadow is grateful!"

Shadow looked at it and wondered what in the world he would do with a bunch of gold. Why would a god need gold when they can make anything from thin air?

Sonic handed Shadow back to Amy. She put him into a little cloud bed and he curled up back into a ball of spikes. Amy looked at Sonic.

"What about our gift?" she asked. Sonic looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Hm… It needs to have a little bit of psychic power… Silver fur… Golden eyes… And…," Sonic looked and around and began to grab completely random materials from all over the place. He shoved them all together.

"Ah yes! Has to be a hedgehog of course! And voila!" Sonic said as the materials came together to form a little silverish-white hedgehog. He had spiky hair like Shadow and Sonic only it was a different fur design. He had golden eyes and was holding himself up in the air using his psychokinesis. He blinked a few times and looked at Sonic.

"His name is Silver, and he's all yours Shadow!" Sonic said handing Silver to Shadow. Shadow curled up into a smaller and tighter ball. Silver looked curiously at Shadow with wide eyes. Shadow slowly opened his eyes and looked at the hedgehog through his fur.

"Shadow?" asked Silver looking at him. It was the only word Silver could say. Shadow sat up and met Silver's gaze.

The two of them looked at each other and inspected each other. After sitting there for a little while, Silver grinned and bonks his forehead against Shadow's. Shadow looked a little dizzy for a moment and recovers. He smiles at the little Silver grins back. Silver hugged him and Shadow didn't exactly object.

"Aww…," everyone said.

Sonic gives himself a little victory grin as if had saved the world again and puts a golden medal around Shadow's neck. It had the symbol of the gods on it. Shadow grabbed it and looked at it in awe at how shiny it was.

"Well…, how sentimental!" Dr. Eggman exclaims from the entrance of the room. Sonic looked over and forced a smile on his face, but he wasn't at all happy to see him.

"Hi Egghead. Long time, no see…," Sonic says.

"You know, I haven't been this choked up since I got a hunk of moussaka caught in my throat! Huh?" asked Eggman looking around. Nobody said anything. Eggman looked a little disappointed.

"Is this an audience or a mosaic?" asked Eggman. Sonic raced up to him.

"So, you finally made it. How are things in the droopy, disgusting Underworld?" asked Sonic. Eggman shrugged.

"I'd say that they're going fine. Little dark, little gloomy, and lots of dead people! Ah yes, the little Shadow the Hedgehog! Isn't he a cutie," Eggman said getting a closer look.

Amy got out a hammer just in case and Silver growled at Eggman defensively. Shadow, once again, tried to hide in a ball.

"I don't suppose you would mind if I- OW!"

Eggman tried to get a fur sample from Shadow, but the little black hedgehog grabbed his finger and squeezed it as hard as he could. Shadow had remarkable strong as well. Eggman blew on his finger and tried to ease the pain. Finally, due to being a god, his finger had recovered.

"Well…, He's the strong little tyke…," Eggman said glaring at Shadow. Silver narrowed his eyes at Eggman.

"Oh, come on! You should lighten up! I'd let you join the celebration if you decided to behave yourself!" Sonic said.

"I'd love to, but I've got a full time gig down in the Underworld… But really I'd love to. I just have a job that was charitably bestowed on me," glares at Sonic. "So, see you later I guess!"

Eggman left and everyone was silent for a moment. Sonic broke the silence.

"Well, he's gotta slow down. He might just work himself to death! HA! Work himself to death!" Sonic chirped. All the other gods laughed at Sonic's joke. Sonic himself also laughed.

"Oh my gosh, I kill myself!" Sonic giggled. Eggman was listening to him.

"If only, you big, blue rat!" Eggman hissed at Sonic. All of them didn't even notice Eggman. He began to go back to the underworld.

"If there was one god that got worked up, it was Eggman!" Tikal said.

"'Cause he had an evil plan…," Rouge explained.

 _He ran the Underworld…_

 _But thought the dead were dull and uncouth._

 _He was as mean as ruthless-_

 _And that's the gospel truth._

 _He had a plan to shake things up-_

 _And that's the gospel truth!_

"ORBOT!" yelled Eggman. The circular robot hovered down the stairs as fast as he could.

"Coming, your most lugubriousness!" Orbot called. He tripped halfway down the rocky stairs and fell down at Eggman's feet.

"CUBOT!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I can handle it!" Cubot shouted hovering down the stairs, but also trips and falls on top of Orbot.

"Watch where you're going!" Orbot snapped.

"Don't blame me! You were the one flat on your face on the ground!" Cubot shot back. The two robots scrambled to their feet.

"Orbot and Cubot reporting for duty!" Orbot said with a salute.

"Right. Tell me when the three Fates arrive," Eggman told them.

"Um… You mean the weird and creepy chao thing that has three heads, but only one eye?" asked Cubot.

"YES!" Eggman bellowed.

"Oh…, Well…, They're already here…," Orbot stuttered.

"WHAT?! The Fates are here and you didn't tell me?!" demanded Eggman.

"Oh…, We are a bag of rusted bolts! Rusted bolts!" cried the two robots bowing before Eggman.

"Okay, remind me to maim you after my meeting."

Eggman walks upstairs to see the Fates sitting in the middle of the room. They were three chao merged into one. It had three heads and were all female dark chao. They were just much bigger and only the head in the middle had an eye. It would have been a little weird, but Eggman is surrounded by dead people all the time, so it doesn't exactly bother him that they're scarier than most.

The chao were holding up a long thread and were giggling to themselves. They loved doing this.

"You'd better hold that mortal's thread of life good and tight because it's not going to be a thread of life for much longer!" chirped the right head. It's opposite (the left head) nodded and chomped down on the thread harder.

The leader head had a pair of scissors in its mouth and cut the thread swiftly and without questions. A loud shriek rang through the air. The dark chaos giggled.

"Incoming!" yelled the left head.

A spirit that was once a human being came soaring into the room and out into a tunnel. The sign above the tunnel went from "Over 5000000000 served" to "Over 5000000001 served". Eggman walked into the room.

"Ladies, I'm sorry I was-"

"Late," they all said at once. Eggman sighed.

"We knew you would be!" chirped the right head.

"We do know everything after all. Past," points at the left head. "Present," points at the middle head. "And future!" points at the right head.

"I was at this party and lost track of time and-"

"We know!"

"I know you know! So, here's the deal. Sonic, Mr. High and Mighty, Mr. "Hey, you, get off my cloud," now he has—"

"A bouncing baby rat! WE KNOW!" the three heads yelled.

"I KNOW YOU KNOW! I know. I got it. I got the concept, so let me just ask: Is this hog gonna mess up my hostile takeover big, or what? What do you think?" asked Eggman as he put a little playing piece that looked like young Shadow on a chessboard.

"Um…," the left head thought, but the middle head growled at it.

"Don't you say anything! You know we're not supposed to reveal the future!" the middle head snapped.

"Oh wait, I'm sorry. Time out. Can I? Can I ask you a question, by the way? Are you, (to the left head), did you cut your hair of something? You look fabulous! You look like a fate worse than death!" Eggman exclaimed. She giggled when he told her that. The middle and right head growled at her, but she didn't care.

The right head got so mad that it knocked the eye from the middle head to the hand of Cubot.

"EW! GROSS!" yelled the cube shaped robot.

"Oh my gosh, it's blinking!" cried Orbot. Cubot kicked it back into Eggman's hand.

"Ladies, my fate is in your lovely hands," said Eggman presenting the eye back to the middle head. The left head was still feeling flattered by his charm. The middle head sniffed.

"Oh, all right, but only this once!"

The eye rose into the air and begun to project pictures of the future all across the walls of the room.

" _In 18 years precisely,_

 _the planets will align ever so nicely._

"Oy! All in verse! I guess I should've seen that coming I guess…," Eggman said.

 _The time to act will be at hand._

 _Unleash the Titans, your monstrous band_

 _Then the once-proud Sonic will finally fall,_

 _And you, Eggman, will rule all!_

As the three heads made the proclamation, Eggman was beaming from ear to ear with joy.

"YES! Eggman rules!"

 _A word of caution to this tale…_

"Come again?"

 _Should Shadow the Hedgehog fight, you will fail…_

The Fates then disappeared and same with the eye. They left Eggman standing in the room with Orbot and Cubot. He was bubbling with rage.

"WHAAAAAT?!" he yelled.

The doctor inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. He looked over at Orbot and Cubot.

"Alright you two bags of bolts, I have a little riddle for you. How do you kill a god?" asked Eggman walking over to a door on the other side of the room. Orbot and Cubot followed.

"Um… I don't know… uh…," Cubot started.

"You can't! They're immortal!" Orbot answered.

"Yes… So, if we are to succeed, we have to make the little rat mortal…," he replied.

He opened the door and saw a little potion with death skulls floating in the bottle. A mortal potion.

And so, that very night, all of the gods on Mount Olympus were asleep. Shadow was snuggled up in a cloud. Silver was sleeping in the air due to being able to use his psychokinesis to hover.

Orbot and Cubot snuck into the room undetected. They had shapeshifted into robots with wings. They fluttered into the room and snagged Shadow before the little hedgehog even knew what was happening. Although, they broke a nearby lamp when leaving. Silver opened an eye wondering what all the noise was about. When he discovered what was happening, he fell to the ground. He got stuck in a bucket lying on the floor. Sonic and Amy both woke up and looked at each other.

"What in the wide world of Mobius is going on?!" demanded Sonic.

"You know, I think I know what's going on…," Amy said slowly. She and Sonic hopped to their feet in alarm.

"Shadow!" yelled Amy.

"Taco Tuesday!" cried Sonic.

"What?"

"Oh, uh, you could be right too I suppose…," Sonic said sheepishly.

The two hedgehogs raced into the room and saw that Shadow was gone. Only then did Silver get himself unstuck from the bucket. The little white hedgehog looked around in bewilderment and squealed.

Shadow was caught in the clutches of the two robots. He didn't exactly like being woken up and swiped, but the wild wind smacking him in the face drowned out his cries of protest.

"We're done for!" cried Cubot.

"Quit your yelling and we'll be fine!" Orbot snapped back.

The two robots crashed onto the ground and got out the vial. Orbot shoved the bottle into the black hedgehog's mouth. Due to not knowing what it was, he took it. His bright red stripes slowly began to lose their brightness.

"Look at that! He's changing! Should we kill him?! Should we kill him now?!" demanded Cubot.

"No. He has to drink the whole thing! Every last drop!" Orbot snapped.

"Huh? Is someone there?" asked a voice.

"AH! Hide!" cried Cubot. The two robots disappeared and accidentally shattered the bottle on the ground. The very last drop of the potion fell onto the ground. Shadow wasn't glowing anymore, but he did still have his speed and strength.

A two-tailed fox and a plant-like girl walked out into the clearing with Shadow curled up in a ball. The girl picked it up.

"What do you suppose this is?" asked the girl. She saw the medal and read it out loud.

"Shadow?" she read.

Shadow looked up at them when she said his name. The girl hopped backward in surprise at the spiky ball actually being a hedgehog.

"It's a hedgehog! Tails, do you think that maybe the gods sent him to us?" she asked.

"On the other side of the medal is the sign of the gods, so I think you're right. What do you think Cosmo? Should we take him home?" asked Tails.

"I don't see why we shouldn't! We can't just abandon him out here! Anything can happen!" Cosmo told him.

As they were saying this, Orbot and Cubot transformed themselves into two robotic snakes to kill Shadow. They slithered up the hedgehog that was now on the ground. Shadow looked back at them and smirked at them. The two snakes suddenly looked horrified. Shadow grabbed them and squeezed them as hard as he could, shook them rather violently for a second and tied them in a big knot. To wrap up his little torture, he tossed the two snakes off into the sunset. Orbot and Cubot screamed in terror and surprise as they soared through the sky. Shadow waved good-bye to them. Tails and Cosmo stared in amazement.

"Well, we aren't leaving him here I guess…," Tails remarked.

"Oh…, Eggman is going to kill us when he finds out!" Orbot cried.

"You mean if he finds out!" Cubot chirped.

"If… If is good!" Orbot said with a nod.

"It was tragic. Sonic led all the gods on a frantic search," Sonia said.

"But by the time they found him, it was too late."

 _Young Shad was mortal now,_

 _But since he did not drink the last drop_

 _He still retained his godlike strength-_

 _So thank his lucky star!_

 _Sonic and Amy wept_

 _Because their son could never come home._

 _They'd have to watch their precious hedgehog_

 _Grow up from afar._

 _Though Eggman' horrid plan_

 _Was hatched before Shad cut his first tooth,_

 _The boy grew stronger every day_

 _And that's the gospel truth!_

ZairaDrayan: And that's the end of Chapter 1! Not too bad I guess. Next Chapter, Shadow goes soul searching! YAY! Also he can talk! Yay! So can Silver! Boo… I'm kidding. Not too horrible for a story with weird characters in weird places. Hope you enjoyed chapter 1 and be sure to stay alert for chapter 2. No, I didn't completely drop Shadow of the Opera Bloopers or Sonic Wings of Fire. I'm still working on those, so don't assume that I'm dead yet or losing so much inspiration that I'm randomly dropping stories. That's my only note on my other stories. Again, if you want progress reports, tell me. I'll be working on a lot of stuff, so don't be surprised if it takes me a week to upload again.


	2. Chapter 2

ZairaDrayan: Well, I've finished chapter 2. No big important messages this time. I just hope you enjoy!

Chapter 2

Shadow was a lot older now. About in his teen years. He was pulling a large wagon behind him that was stuffed with hay. He was running at dangerously high speeds with Tails sitting on the front seat of the wagon staring ahead in pure terror. A city came in sight.

"SHADOW! STOP!" yelled Tails.

Shadow heard what he said and dug his feet into the ground. They came to a screeching halt in the middle of the city and Shadow literally dug a long and deep ditch when he stopped. Tails sighed with relief.

"Thanks, Shadow. Although, I would prefer if you went slower next time…," Tails said.

"That's what you said last time!" Shadow complained not wanting to go in a simple jog. He picked up the large stack of hay that was almost twelve times taller than him with one hand. Tails shook his head.

"Don't unload it just yet. I have to finagle with Storm. You should stay here," Tails said.

Shadow sighed and put the hay back down. The wagon collapsed when Tails left. Shadow was able to repair it in five minutes and then sat down on the ground and leaned against the wagon. Occasionally, someone would walk up to him and begin to ask something, but then realize who he was and make up some excuse to leave. This was common, but it drove Shadow nuts sometimes.

He was playing with a stone on the ground when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He saw a bunch of others his age playing soccer. He had once asked if he could participate, but they knew of his speed and said no because they knew that he'd go from zero to sixty in a minute. They only turned him down. Why couldn't he be like everyone else? Why couldn't he be accepted?

A frisbee flew to the ground next to him. Shadow picked it up and glanced up at the people it belonged to.

"Hey! Pass it here! Hey!" they yelled running over.

Shadow stood up with the frisbee in his hand the other kids almost gasped, but stopped themselves and forced a nervous smile on their faces.

"Uh… Hey, Shad! Could you _**hand**_ us back that frisbee? We want to continue playing!" a young eagle asked. A falcon next to it nodded.

"Well, would you mind if I joined?" asked Shadow.

"Uh… No. We already have three and we want to keep it an even number!" chirped the falcon.

Shadow counted on his fingers and thought for a second.

"Wait… Three isn't an even num-"

The eagle snatched the frisbee from Shadow and they dashed away quickly. The two birds took to the air and joined up with a harpy eagle. They tossed the frisbee to each other and giggled to themselves.

"You see that black hedgehog? He's such an idiot!" the falcon laughed.

"Yeah! He's so lame! He'll make it nowhere close to the stars! He'll be in the Slackisphere! Slacker in the Slackisphere! Slacker in the Slackisphere!" they all chanted.

"I'll show them…," Shadow mumbled to himself. He had to restrain himself to keep him from running back up to them and yelling something mean back to them.

Shadow started to just walk around. He saw people happily chatting with their friends. When they saw him, they looked away. Who knew that super strength and super speed could be such a curse. The frisbee that the eagles and falcon were playing with fell in front of Shadow again. This time, he picked it up and got into a throwing position. He threw it as hard as he could at the eagles and falcon. It hit the poor falcon on the side of the head. The falcon was knocked out of the sky and landed on the ground. The two eagles shrieked in terror. They swooped back down to the ground.

"Silverwing! Silverwing! Are you okay?" asked the eagles.

Silverwing weakly looked up at them and mumbled something. It fell into unconsciousness. Shadow took a step backward when everyone stared at him.

"He was the one who hurt Silverwing!" yelled the harpy eagle pointing at Shadow. All of the people in the clearing began to close in on him. They slowly began to grow into a mob. The black hedgehog didn't actually mean to hurt Silverwing. Although, the crowd didn't believe him when he told them. Tails raced in front of the crowd.

"Hang on a second!" the yellow fox yelled.

"The hedgehog is a menace!" someone shouted.

"He's too dangerous to be around us normal people!" another in the crowd said.

"He just can't control his own strength! It was an accident!" Tails snapped.

The two eagles walked up to Shadow and sneered at him. Shadow took a few more steps back.

"I'm warning you… Tails, you'd better keep that _**freak**_ away from this place. We see his ugly mug again, we use him to sharpen our claws!" one of the eagles growled.

Shadow couldn't take it anymore. He turned around and bolted sound speed for the door and was gone in a flash. Tails ran after him.

"Shadow wait!" cried the fox.

"Yeah! Never come back!"

Tails ran back to his house that was quite a distance away from the city. He walked up to Cosmo.

"You seen Shadow?" asked Tails.

Cosmo pointed through the woods to the cliff that led to the ocean. Shadow was staring out at the water feeling completely miserable. He was sitting on a log. Tails sat next to him.

"Shadow, you shouldn't let those people and what they said get to you…," Tails said.

Shadow sighed and looked at the ground. He didn't even glance at Tails.

"But Tails, they're right. I am a freak. I try to fit in, I really do. I just can't. Sometimes.. I feel like... like I really don't belong here. Like I'm supposed to be.. someplace else…," Shadow said.

"Well, Shadow… Um… Nevermind," Tails said walking away. As soon as he did, Shadow stood up and grabbed a stone he threw it across the water and it skipped a few times.

 _I have often dreamed of a far off place_

 _Where a great, warm welcome will be waiting for me_

 _Where the crowds will cheer when they see my face_

 _And a voice keeps saying this is where I'm meant to be_

 _I will find my way_

 _I can go the distance_

 _I'll be there someday,_

 _If I can be strong_

 _I know every mile_

 _Will be worth my while_

 _I would go most anywhere to feel like I belong…_

Shadow then walked back to his house. Tails and Cosmo were waiting for him at the door.

"Um… Shadow, we gotta tell you something," Tails said.

Cosmo handed him a golden metal. It said Shadow the Hedgehog on one side, the symbol of the gods on the other. Shadow rubbed his hand over it. Pure gold.

"It was around your neck when we found you," Cosmo explained.

"This… This is it! Maybe, thanks to this, I can find the answers! Maybe…," Shadow said looking at it.

"Maybe…," Tails said with a nod.

"Would you let me go to the temple of the gods? Maybe if I go there…," Shadow said.

"We'll let you. You deserve to know the truth," Cosmo said.

"Thanks," Shadow replied. He smiled at them and ran off in the opposite direction. Tails and Cosmo waved to him as he left until he was out of sight.

 _I am on my way_

 _I can go the distance_

 _I don't care how far_

 _Somehow I'll be strong_

 _I know every mile_

 _Will be worth my while_

 _I would go most anywhere to find where I belong._

After a journey on foot to the temple, he slowly enters the dark room with a large statue of Sonic in the middle. Shadow looked up at it.

"Sonic, is there a reason for why I am here. A reason for why I have my strength and speed? I really need to know…," Shadow said.

A hard gust of wind whipped into the room and swept past Shadow and to the statue. The torches were lit and the statue of Sonic in a heroic pose instantly came to life. The stone Sonic blinked open his eyes. He looked down at Shadow.

"Why Shadow! I haven't seen you in… well… forever it seems!" Sonic exclaimed.

Shadow froze in terror for a moment. Then he took a step back and bolted for the door while screaming.

 _AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!_

"Hang on a second! Do you really think I would hurt you?! Is this any way to greet your father?!" demanded Sonic pointing at Shadow who was at the door. Shadow froze again.

"F-F-Father?!" asked Shadow in wonderment.

"Didn't know you had such a heroic father did you? You've stayed for the most part, the same. What a shame," Sonic said.

"I-I don't understand! If you're my father, that would make me a… That would make me a…," Shadow couldn't say the last word to the sentence because it seemed to be too crazy to be true.

"A god. Yes," Sonic finished.

"A god… A god!" Shadow repeated. He fell backward into a sitting position on the floor.

"Well, you were the one who wanted answers. I figured that you were old enough to know the truth!" Sonic explained.

"Why to leave me here on Earth where I don't fit in?! Didn't you care even a little bit about me?!" demanded Shadow.

"Whoa! I and Amy didn't put you there! I think Eggman did… Although, nobody really knows for sure… He stole you and turned you mortal! Only gods can live on Mount Olympus," Sonic said with a sigh.

"You can't do anything to reverse it?" asked Shadow.

"I can't do nothing! However, you can!"

"I can?"

"If you can become a true hero on Earth, you god-hood will be restored!" Sonic exclaimed.

"A true hero! Right! Uh… How do I become a true hero…?" Shadow asked to Sonic.

"First, you must seek out Knuckles the Echidna. He is the trainer of heroes. He's a knucklehead, but is still an awesome trainer of demi-gods," Sonic said.

"Seek out Knuckles! Right! I'll be on my way," Shadow replied turning around.

"Hang on a sec, Shadow! You forgot a little something!" Sonic called. Shadow turned back around.

"What?"

"This." Sonic whistled long and hard. Something came flying down from the heavens above. He was a silver hedgehog (and, well, didn't change much from the beginning). He lowered himself to the ground and saluted to Sonic. He fell to his knees when he saw Shadow, however.

"Holy Amy… I never thought I'd be seeing you again after so long!" Silver cried hugging Shadow.

"Uh… Who are you exactly…?" asked Shadow awkwardly. Silver let go and gave him an odd look.

"You don't remember me?" Silver asked looking a little hurt.

"Am I supposed to?" Shadow questioned. He tried to think back to when he saw Silver, but couldn't quite grasp the memory. Silver walked closer to Shadow.

"Well, maybe this will help you remember!" Silver chirped. He bonked his forehead against Shadow's. A faint memory fluttered back to Shadow.

"Actually, that helped a lot… Been seventeen and a half years Silver!" Shadow exclaimed. Silver smiled.

"So, you do remember my name!"

"I didn't expect you to remember Silver. He's a fine, noble, and loyal hedgehog. I used to use him as my messenger boy because he was one of the few characters that had psychokinesis. He has the brain of a bird!" Sonic said.

"Who are you calling bird brain?!" demanded Silver. Sonic and Shadow giggled. Silver didn't think it was so funny.

"Don't worry Silver. It's just no use!" Shadow said. Sonic and Shadow laughed again. Silver was really annoyed.

"NO USE TO GET SOME RESPECT AROUND HERE!" Silver cried.

"He's fun to mess around with! Anyways, good luck Shadow on your journey to become a true hero!" Sonic yelled with a wave.

"See you Sonic!"

Silver grabbed Shadow with his psychic powers and they flew off to find Knuckles.

 _I will beat the odds_

 _I can go the distance_

 _I will face the world_

 _Fearless, proud and strong_

 _I will please the gods_

 _I can go the distance_

' _Till I find my hero's welcome right where I belong!_


	3. Chapter 3

ZairaDrayan: Chapter 3! I've been taking a break from Wings of Fire and the Shadow of the Opera Bloopers, but I'll get back on those eventually. Just be glad that I have this up! Enjoy!

Shadow and Silver had flown across the ocean a long way and finally reached the island in the sky called Angel Island. Shadow and Silver landed cautiously onto the floating island.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" asked Shadow looking around.

"Positive! I think…," Silver replied.

The two of them wandered around for a little bit, but the place looked abandoned. There was thick jungle everywhere. Shadow looked around and saw an echidna up in a tree blending in with the scenery. Silver hadn't seen this yet. Shadow slowly approached.

The red echidna had purple eyes and a white crescent mark on his chest. He looked really strong like Shadow and was focussing on something. Shadow looked over and noticed that his eyes were fixed on a giant emerald.

A bat fluttered up to the rock, looked around, and when she touched it…

 _BOOM!_

The echidna burst out of the tree and landed on top of the bat. He growled at her.

"What are you doing here Rouge?!" demanded the echidna.

"Why hello Knuckie! I've been wanting to see you all day!" Rouge said charmingly. Knuckles shook his head.

"You were after the master emerald!"

"Yeah! I'm also playing two characters in this story!"

"Story? What story?" asked Knuckles with a baffled expression.

"I should have known that your dopey mind wouldn't understand! Well, I'll be taking that emerald now if you don't mind!" Rouge yelled kicking Knuckles off of her. He grabbed her shoe and she tripped over.

"You don't deceive Knuckles! The guardian of the master emerald! Prepare for a big hole in your face!" Knuckles yelled drawing his hand back.

"Did you say your name was Knuckles?" asked Shadow awkwardly. Knuckles sat up in surprise.

"What?" he asked.

Rouge kicked Knuckles off and flew away with a smirk on her face. "Later Knuckles!" she yelled to him as she flew.

Knuckles growled at her and turned to Shadow angrily. "I don't know who you think you are, but I was in the middle of dealing with a thief!"

"Sorry, but I was told to come here. So, you are Knuckles," Shadow said.

"Yes. Who's the other guy?" asked Knuckles pointing to Silver suspiciously. Silver's ears twitched.

"Him? That's Silver. Yeah, he's with me."

"Good. If he wasn't, I would have had a barbecue using him! What brings you here?" asked Knuckles.

"I was sent here to be trained to be a hero!" Shadow replied enthusiastically.

"Yep!" Silver supported.

Knuckles walked up to the master emerald and sighed. "Sorry, but I can't help you any."

"You can't?! Why not?!" demanded Shadow.

"Two words: I, am, retired!"

Shadow counted the words in his mind. That was three words… Oh, whatever! That wasn't what was really important! Shadow shoved that to the back of his mind.

"For crying out loud, I have to do this! Haven't you ever had a dream that you would do just about anything to get?" asked Shadow.

Knuckles sighs again and shakes his head. He walks up to a little hut that he called home. "Dude, come inside. I've gotta show ya something."

Shadow obeyed and Silver tried to follow, but Knuckles told him that he had to stay there and watch the master emerald in case if the jewel thief came back. Silver groaned but did as he was told.

As soon as Shadow had entered the hut, he was amazed. There were statues of all of the world famous heroes. Shadow was so amazed that he accidentally hit his head on a large wooden mast.

"Watch it! That was part of the mast of the Argo!" Knuckles snapped.

"The Argo?" asked Shadow looking back at it with wonder.

"Yeah. Who do you think taught Jason how to sail? Cleopatra?! I trained all those would-be heroes. Odysseus, Perseus, Theseus. A lot of "yeuseus." And every single one of those bums let me down. Flatter than a discus. None of them could go the distance. And then there was Achilles. Now there was a guy who had it all - the build, the foot speed. He could jab, he could take a hit, he could keep on comin'. But that furshlugginer heel of his! He barely gets nicked there once and - kaboom! He's history. Yeah, I had a dream once. I dreamed I was gonna train the greatest hero there ever was. So great the gods would hang a picture of him in the stars... All across the sky, and people would say, "That's Knux's boy." That's right. Eh, but dreams are for rookies. An echidna can only take so much disappointment," Knuckles said with a sigh.

Shadow could barely believe what he was hearing. "I'm different from those guys! I can go the distance!"

"You don't give up do ya?"

"Watch this!" Shadow yelled to him. He bolted out the door and was gone in a flash. Knuckles stood almost dumbfounded.

"Holy Amy Rose of the Hedgehogs…," Knuckles exclaimed.

Shadow then came back from the other direction. Knuckles was impressed, but still not convinced.

"Try a little harder rookie."

"Okay," Shadow answered with a shrug. He ran outside and picks up a giant metal disc that weighed tons like it was nothing. He sent it soaring across the ocean. Now Knuckles was sure that he was more than a demigod.

"Well, maybe… If I- NO! Snap out of it! I'm too old to get mixed up in this again!" Knuckles snapped at himself.

"If I don't become a true hero, I can't rejoin my father Sonic!"

"Sonic? Sonic the Hedgehog? He's your father?!" Knuckles instantly fell to the ground and began to laugh his head off. Shadow glared at Knuckles. "Sonic?! The big guy?! He's your, daddy! Mr. High-Speed Winds! Read me a book would ya da-da? Sonic!" he began to mimic Sonic. "Once upon a time I had a son!" The echidna's sides were beginning to hurt.

"It's the truth!" Shadow snapped.

"Do you want me to prove it?!" demanded Silver from on top of the master emerald.

"PLEASE!" Knuckles yelled rolling his eyes. Shadow knew he was gonna start singing.

 _So you wanna be a hero kid, well, whoop-de-do._

 _I've been around the block before with blockheads just like you!_

 _Each and every one was disappointment_

 _Pain for which there ain't no ointment_

 _So much for excuses_

 _Though a kid of Sonic is_

 _Asking me to jump into the fray._

 _My answer is two words:_

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a giant funnel cloud (tornado) appeared and Knuckles was sucked into it. As he was whirling around in it, he yelled the words, "Okay!" The funnel cloud disappeared and Knuckles landed on his face on the ground.

"You mean you'll do it?!" asked Shadow hopefully.

"You win!" Knuckles yelled still trying to get his face out of the ground.

Shadow and Silver started celebrating and dancing in excitement. "You won't be sorry Knux! Can we start training now?!" asked Shadow.

"Oy, vay…," Knuckles groaned.

They began to set up for training and everything came together nicely in the end. Knuckles was still singing.

 _I'd given up hope that someone would come along_

 _A fella who'd ring the bell for once not the gong_

 _The kind who wins trophies_

 _Won't settle for low fees_

 _At least semi-pro fees_

 _But no, I get the greenhorn!_

 _I've been out to pasture, pal, my ambition gone_

 _Content to spend lazy days and to not mow my lawn_

 _But you need an advisor_

 _An echidna, but wiser_

 _A good merchandiser and- whoa!_

(He gets shot in a bow rather than the arrow when he was teaching Shadow about bows and arrows)

 _There goes my ulcer!_

 _I'm down to one last hope and I hope it's you_

 _Though, dude, you're not exactly a dream come true_

 _I trained enough turkeys_

 _Who never came through_

 _You're my only last hope_

 _So you'll have to do._

While training, Shadow's objective was to rescue a test dummy from a hoop of fire and dash across the incredibly dangerous and fragile log bridge with no hand rails. Well…

"Rule #6: When rescuing a damsel, always handle with care!" Knuckles shouted to Shadow.

Shadow jumped through the hoop, got caught on fire, dashed across the bridge, broke the bridge, and fell into the water. The test dummy didn't exactly make it… Shadow sheepishly watched it float downstream and climbed out of the water.

"No…," Knuckles complained.

Later…

Now Shadow was learning how to hit moving targets. The targets were being controlled by Silver's psychokinesis. Shadow grabbed a bunch of knives and threw them all at the same time.

"Rule #95: Concentrate!" yelled Knuckles.

As soon as the knives left his hand, Knuckles was pinned against a tree because Shadow completely missed. Knuckles barely survived the unintentional attack.

"Rule #96: AIM!" Knuckles shouted half out of anger and pure terror.

 _Demigods have faced the odds and ended up a mockery_

 _Don't believe in the stories that you read on all the crockery_

 _To be a true hero, kid, is a dying art_

 _Like painting a masterpiece it's a work of heart_

 _It takes more than sinew_

 _Comes down to what's in you_

 _You have to continue To grow!_

Shadow had gone through weeks and months of training. Eventually, when Knuckles measured Shadow's muscles, Shadow would break the tape measurer! It would snap!

"That's more like it!" Knuckles exclaimed with excitement.

Later…

Knuckles had set up a giant obstacle course of death to see if Shadow was really ready to end his training. There was fire hoops, sharks, devices built to squash Shadow, enemies, arrows, and lasers. Shadow and Silver stared at it in disbelief for a second. Shadow gathered up his courage and lept out into the field. He ducked and jumped through obstacles while avoiding sharp blades at incredible speeds. He punched the sharks out of the way and destroyed many mechanisms. He lept through the fire hoop and grabbed the test dummy. He jumped into a clearing and got out his shield. He used it to block all of the arrows from the enemies that were shooting at him. Shadow bent his sword into a boomerang and sent it flying towards the wooden enemies. It cut off their heads and Shadow grabbed the sword when it came back to him.

 _I'm down to one last shot and my last high note_

 _Before that blasted underworld gets my goat_

 _My dreams are on you, kid_

 _Go make 'em come true Climb that uphill slope_

 _Keep pushing that envelope_

 _You're my one last hope_

 _And, dude, it's up to you Yeah!_

Silver applauded Shadow for his amazing performance and Knuckles for singing. Shadow bowed for his clapping fan. Knuckles was more excited than ever.

"Did you see that?! Next stop, OLYMPUS!" Shadow yelled.

"Alright, let's just take it easy champ!" Knuckles told Shadow.

"I'm ready! I wanna get off of this little floaty island and go someplace! See monster's, battles, or maybe rescue some damsels! Come on Knuckles!" Shadow pleaded.

"Well…," Knuckles started about to give him a big no.

"Aw… Come on! I've been here for months on end training! Let's see if it's paid off!" Shadow begged.

"Fine! Do you want a road trip? Well, saddle up because we're going to Thebes!" Knuckles announced.

Shadow and Silver began to celebrate again. Silver flew them in the correct direction. Knuckles explained to Shadow why they were going to Thebes.

"Thebes is a place with a lot of problems. It's a tough town and a good place to start building a rep," Knuckles told him. Shadow nodded.

Suddenly, they all hear a high pitched scream from down in the trees. Shadow's ears twitched and he looked to Silver who nodded.

"Sounds like the classic D.I.D. Damsel in disTRESS!" yelled Knuckles plummeting down to the ground because Silver and Shadow didn't need to be told who it was. He landed on his head again. "OW! Watch how you're flyin'!" snapped Knuckles.

"Sorry…," Silver told him.

Shadow dragged them down into the high grass and they watched from the sideline What was happening. A female Drayan was being chased by a giant centaur. It grabbed her and began to growl in her ear.

The Drayan had long black hair and green eyes. She wore a green shirt with a black sash and black pants with white boots with an emerald in the side to match her eyes. Her wings were emerald green with a spiral pattern on them. They were roundish and pointed. She looked back at the centaur with eyes full of anger and rage.

"Not so fast sweetheart!" the centaur growled.

"I swear, Nessus! You put me down or I'll-!" the Drayan yelled.

Nessus laughed at her as she struggled in his hand. Shadow's instincts were screaming to dash into the clearing, punch the centaur, and bring her to safety. He had no idea that Knuckles was giving instructions to him.

"Ooooh! I like them fiery!" Nessus roared.

"Alright, Shad. First, analyze the situation. Don't just go in there without a plan. Then-" Knuckles looked over to see that Shadow was gone. Silver and Knuckles stared at each other for a moment. Then Knuckles smacked himself in the face. "He's losing points for this!"

"You don't know what you're-" she cut herself off from the sentence at the appearance of Shadow. Nessus and the Drayan looked at him for a second without responding.

"Do you mind if I step in for a sec," Shadow asked sounding really annoyed with the centaur.

"Step aside two legs!" Nessus growled.

"Wow… Did You notice that just now? You are so smart… Do you want to go back to magic centaur kindergarten? I could have sworn I met another centaur just like you, but a million times smarter. Do you happen to be his dopey brother he was talking about?" asked Shadow.

The centaur roared in a rage at Shadow, but the hedgehog kept his cool. The Drayan was now just annoyed with everyone because Shadow wasn't doing anything, she didn't need rescuing, and you never make a centaur mad.

"I am going to have to request that you let her leave without a scratch," Shadow told Nessus.

"Get movin' junior. I can handle this," she told the hedgehog.

"Okay!" Shadow said turning around.

"You think you're going to leave after that insult?!" demanded Nessus.

"Yes. At least, she does. I just thought she was a damsel in distress," Shadow said with a shrug.

"What's he doing?" asked Silver.

"His own thing…," Knuckles answered with a groan.

"I'm a damsel, I'm in distress, but again, I can handle it!" she snapped.

Shadow shrugs and runs off faster than the centaur could see. He ran around the entire area and approached the centaur from behind. He kicked it over. It yelled at him. And was off-balanced for a second. Shadow used that chance to land another blow, but the centaur pushes back at Shadow before he could dodge. The impact sent Shadow full speed into a boulder.

"Ow…," Shadow said to himself standing up.

"Come on Shadow! What are you doing?! Use your sword for crying out loud!" Knuckles commanded.

"Sword? Swords are for rookies!" Shadow snapped.

"WHAT?!" cried Knuckles. Silver was biting his fingernails.

Shadow ran back up to Nessus. He drew back his arm for a powerful punch. Nessus was going to counter with another punch almost more powerful, but Shadow was too quick. He dodged the punch gracefully and crushed the centaur in the mud.

"Sorry madame. You wouldn't be all muddy if you asked for my help, but at least you're alive. You can thank me for that!" Shadow chirped.

He picked her up and put her on a rock next to Knuckles. She began to use her magic to fix her hair and to get rid of all the mud on her clothes.

Shadow turned around and charged towards Nessus. He drew his hand back and sent electricity/chaos power to his hand. He released it all at once turning that power into a chaos spear. The spear soared through the air in a straight line directly for Nessus. It hit the centaur and he was sent up into the air to land hard on the ground. The monster was knocked out.

"Is wonderboy here for real?" asked the Drayan.

"Of course, he is! You best keep your- Wowie! You know, I'm real too," Knuckles said slapping a dreamy smirk on his face. The Drayan smacked him in the face and he fell into the water. Silver giggled. She threw Silver into the mud also.

"Dude, it's no use," Knuckles said shaking his head. Silver gave him a sad look.

They watched the Drayan walk away.

Shadow trotted back to the viewing audience. He smiles at the Drayan, gives Silver an odd look for being covered in mud, and didn't seem at all surprised by Knuckles.

"How was that?" asked Shadow to Knuckles.

"Ugh! You have to learn to listen to your instructor! You can get away with not listening in the modern triathlons, but this is THE BIG LEAGUES!" Knuckles yelled.

"At least I beat him right?!" Shadow sapped back.

"Next time, don't let your guard down because of a big pair of goo-goo eyes! You've gotta stay focussed and-" Knuckles looked over and realized that Shadow had left once again. He sat on a log with an annoyed look.

Shadow completely walked past Silver when Silver was trying to congratulate him. Silver, once again feeling annoyed, sat down next to Knuckles and growled. Knuckles growled with him.

Shadow was more concerned about the Drayan. He could deal with the other two later.

"So, now that I've saved your life, would you mind telling me your name," he asked.

"Zairiada but my friends call me Zaira. At least, they would if I had any friends. You?" she asked barely looking at him with any interest.

"Uh… Shadow," he told her.

"Hm… I like wonderboy better," she said with a shrug.

"How'd you get mixed up with that thing?"

"The pinhead with hooves? Well, you know how men are. They think "no" means "yes" and "let go" means "take me, I'm yours". Don't worry, shorty the echidna can explain it all to you," Zaira replied to Shadow.

Knuckles growled at her. Shadow shoves him into a nearby tree. Silver gasps and goes to help Knuckles.

"Well, thanks, Shad. It's been a real slice," she said with a slang accent.

"Uh… You don't think that we could hang out more sometime maybe?" asked Shadow.

Zaira shrugged. She waves again and walks off. Shadow had to hiss at himself in his mind to keep his feet from moving.

"Later Shadow!" she said told him.

"She's… SOMETHIN'!" Shadow yells at Knuckles with an unfamiliar feeling fluttering in his chest.

"Yeah… Yes, she is. A REAL PAIN IN THE BUTT! Let's go!" Knuckles yelled.

"Right…," Shadow said with a sigh.

Zaira was walking through the woods and it grew to be really misty. A bunny and chipmunk ran up to her.

"Aw… How cute… A couple of rodents looking for a theme park," she said. Her voice turned bitter.

"Who are you calling rodent?! I'm a bunny!" Cubot yelled turning back into a robot.

"I thought I smelled a rat," Zaira said when she saw Orbot and Cubot.

"Why Zaira, how good to see you!" Eggman exclaimed.

"Hi Egghead…," Zaira said glaring at Eggman.

"Hello. I thought that you were going to get the river guardian for me, but now I'm river guardian-less!" Eggman said acting as if he were surprised.

"I'm sorry, but he made an offer I had to refuse."

She flicked the river guardian off of Eggman's checker board. She walked away from it as soon as she did.

"Instead of taking two years off, I'll add two years on to your sentence. Okay!" Eggman chirped.

Zaira froze and turned around quickly. She continued to glare at Eggman but looked more stressed and agitated rather than angry.

"Listen, it wasn't my fault! It was this wonderboy Shadow the Hedgehog!" Zaira snapped.

"WHA-?! Say his name again…," Eggman told her casting a hostile glance at Orbot and Cubot.

"Shadow? Why does that name ring a bell?" asked Orbot beginning to worry.

"Maybe we own him money?" asked Cubot.

"His name is Shadow the Hedgehog," Zaira repeated.

Eggman stopped and turned to Orbot and Cubot. He looked as if he were going to explode. The two robots shrunk down and huddled in a corner.

"What a second… Wasn't Shadow the kid we were supposed to-" Orbot stopped in mid sentence. Orbot and Cubot looked over at Eggman in terror.

"Holy god of Chaos!" the two robots screamed.

"RUN FOR IT!" Cubot cried.

Eggman grabbed them.

"So… You took care of him… DEAD AS A DOORNAIL! Weren't those your exact words?" asked Eggman.

"This must be a different Shadow! It's become a very popular name!" Orbot said.

"I'm about to rearrange the Cosmos and the one schlemiel who can louse it up is waltzing around in the woods!" bellowed Eggman.

He then used all the amazing powers from being a god he got to destroy the forest. Zaira somehow dodged the attack. Orbot and Cubot, not so much… The two robots looked as if they had fallen into a volcano and then got stuck in a typhoon. However, then were still in working order.

"I'm okay…," Orbot mumbled.

"Hang on a sec! Didn't we still make him mortal?" asked Cubot.

"That's right! We did! We can just kill him and then you can take over Olympus!" Orbot suggested.

Eggman thought for a second. He drew all three of them closer to him. He nodded to himself at the thought of killing Shadow.

"Fortunately for you three, we still have time to fix this rather egregious oversight. And this time, no foul-ups! We must get rid of Shadow once and for all…,"

ZairaDrayan: Hooray! Chapter three is done AT LAST! Okay, After this I'll finish the next chapter of Shadow of the Opera Bloopers. Then I might do another Chapter of the Sonic Wings of Fire story. After that will be me working on the Sonic Hawaii story. Then I'll be back to this for a new update! Hope you liked it!


	4. Chapter 4

ZairaDrayan: Back again! I am not planning on stopping this until the very end. Shadow and Zaira? Sorry for you people who are new to this, but it's something that people are going to have to get used to. Zaira is going to be a character I'm going to add in a LOT of stories. Want to know about her? Check out my main series Sonic X Race of Doom. That'll explain everything if you want to know about my fan characters. Enough of this! Chapter four, hope you enjoy, and lots of other stuff. Story information at the end.

Chapter 4

Shadow, Silver, and Knuckles were flying towards the busy, large, crowded, (sometimes horrifying), city of Thebes. Shadow gazed down upon the city and all the people. Silver landed them on the ground, but they all had to step out of the way for a bunch of chariot racers and crazy people who lived there. Shadow and Silver almost couldn't believe what they were seeing while Knuckles, on the other hand, wasn't at all surprised.

"All of this is one town?" asked Shadow looking around. Knuckles nodded to answer his question.

"Yep. There're too many problems in this place. If you try to go ten feet in front of you, you could lose your nose. Although, if you turn to the right, you could lose an arm. If you turn all the way around, you could get decapitated! Don't even get me started on what happens if-"

"We get the point," Silver stated.

They began to walk down the road and Shadow with Silver can't help but look at everything they see. It really was crazy here. Every person they saw had a limb of some sort missing, they all looked traumatized, and nobody knew what was up or down. It nearly gave Silver a headache.

"Well, if you wanna be a hero Shad, you have to do somethin' heroic! If you're to do somethin' heroic, people have to see it and like it! Not like it, LOVE IT! We have to find someone who needs some serious help to get you a good rep!" Knuckles told Shadow.

Shadow continued looking around. In his opinion, everyone needed help… He looked over and saw some people walking around a half burned down building. Shadow dashed over with Silver and Knuckles on his heels. Before Shadow talked to anyone, he listened to their conversations.

"It's tragic! We lost everything in the fire!" cried a blue cat in agony.

"Everything except for Cheese…," a little rabbit said holding up her Chao. It squeaked in terror.

"Wait… Were the fires before or after the earthquake?" asked another cat only purple. Silver's eyes glittered at the sight of the purple cat.

"They were after! Don't you remember anything?!" demanded the blue cat.

"Vala, cool off!" the cream-colored rabbit told the blue cat.

"Cool off?! Don't say such things! Now there might be a new Ice Age!" cried Vala.

The three of them looked over and saw a flower shrivel up and die in front of them because it grew so cold. They all shrieked in terror.

"That's it! We're moving to Sparta!" the purple cat announced.

"Um… Is there a problem here?" asked Shadow trying to sound casual.

"Nothing you need to be concerned with. We've got it all under control," the purple cat told him.

"Hello miss… What's your name?" asked Silver with a dreamy look in his eyes.

"Uh… I'm Blaze," she replied.

"Blaze… The name of an angel! The name must've been chosen from the heavens above!" Silver yelled majestically.

Vala stormed in front of him and smacked Silver in the face. "You're the one who should cool off, lover boy!"

"I was just aware that there was a problem. I was just wondering if I could help out. In a way, I'm a hero," Shadow explained to them.

The rabbit looked up at him with hopeful eyes. "A hero?" she asked him.

"Cream, be quiet for a second. I've gotta test him. Have you saved a town before?!" demanded Vala.

"No."

"Have you ever reversed a natural disaster?!"

"No."

"Have you ever thought of anyone other than yourself?!"

"Ye-"

"You see, he's just another chariot chaser! This we need!" Vala said without letting Shadow finish.

Knuckles couldn't take it anymore. "Don't you pea brains get it?! This guy is the best there is! Don't just go and turn him down!"

"Hey, isn't that the guy who trained Achilles?" asked Blaze.

"You'd better watch your big mouth!" yelled Knuckles. Silver gasped when Knuckles said that to Blaze.

"Yeah, you're right. Hey, nice job on those heels! Ya' missed a spot!" Vala said kicking her heels at Knuckles with a laugh.

Cream looked at the ground and held Cheese tighter to her. "I was hoping that someone would really help us…"

Knuckles aimed a fist at Vala and charged, but she dodged out of the way. Shadow grabbed Knuckles and restrained him from attacking.

"It's nice to know that you want to help, but we need professionals and not an ameteur," Blaze said to them.

Shadow sighed and nodded. He snapped his fingers to Silver who was still ogling over Blaze. He finally let go of Knuckles.

"How in the world am I supposed to become a real hero if nobody will give me a chance?" asked Shadow.

"Don't worry. You'll get your chance. There's always somethin' dangerous running around in this place," Knuckles replied giving Shadow a pat on the back for trying.

"Silv, I'd recommend you stay quiet for the time being. We're here to give me some more experience. Not to get a date!" Shadow snapped.

"Okay…," Silver mumbled.

Then, pushing through the crowd, a familiar voice rang through the air. Shadow flipped around suddenly alert. He knew who she was. Zaira.

"Help! Something terrible has happened! Please!" she cried as she fought against the strong current of people. Shadow raced up to her.

"Speaking of somethin' dangerous…," Knuckles growled. Silver nodded in agreement.

"Zaira? What in the world happened?" he asked.

"Wonderboy! Er- Shadow! Thank heavens I found you!" she exclaimed.

"What?!" he demanded.

"Outside of town, I was just walking down the road, when I saw two little boys get crushed by a giant boulder! When I went to investigate it, they said they were all right but couldn't get out! I tried to lift the rock, but I couldn't…," she whimpered.

Shadow thought for a second. He was the one with the super amazing strength and speed. Maybe this could be the beginning of becoming a hero. If the other people knew of his capabilities, they might let him do more heroic things! He nodded to her. "Lead the way!"

Outside of the town, they heard the cried of the two young boys and the rock was unmistakable. There was a tiny gap between the boys and the outside world. Shadow walked up to it. The rock was huge! It was as tall as a skyscraper! That was no matter. He'd have to lift it. A few of the townspeople went out to watch.

"Help I can't breathe!" cried one boy.

"Hurry! Call IX-I-I!" cried the other.

"Hang on a second. I've got this," Shadow told them. He grabbed onto the rock from underneath and pulled up on it as hard as he could. Slowly, the rock was raised up from the ground and the two young boys scrambled out from under the rock. Shadow tossed it to the side. He didn't realize that there was a huge cave behind it.

"Jeepers mister! You're really strong!" exclaimed one of the boys jumping up and down with amazement. The other nodded.

"Thanks. You'd better get going. No point in staying here all day," Shadow told them.

The two boys scurried away. They met up with Dr. Eggman and merged into their actual forms. Orbot and Cubot. Eggman applauded them. Zaira was now with them.

"Jeepers?!" demanded Orbot whacking Cubot.

"I was going for innocent!" Cubot retorted.

"Also, two thumbs WAY up for our little lady actress! What a dish! What a doll!" Eggman exclaimed nodding to Zaira.

She looked over at Shadow who had just begun to leave the clearing. Something terrible was going to happen… Something disastrous… "Get out of there while you still can…," she mumbled to him.

The audience was sort of clapping at his strength but wasn't really marveled. It was better than nothing. As Shadow was jogging over to Knuckles a low growling sound came from the cave…

"You think I did okay right? They sort of applauded," Shadow said. They looked over at the cave in response to the growling noise.

"That ain't no applause…," Knuckles stated.

The watched as a Hydra appears from the cave. It had sharp spikes running down its purple snake-like skin. Its eyes were bright orange and had razor sharp teeth. The audience screamed.

"One word: HYDRA!" cried Knuckles flinging a sword into Shadow's hands. Shadow hesitated for a second and finally realized how bad the situation was. His feet seemed to root themselves to the ground in terror.

The Hydra turned and saw Shadow. The first thing it thought was: Oh my! What a lovely snack! The Hydra licked its lips and looked at the sword. It raised its spikes then charged! Shadow dodged and continued to dodge.

"That's it! Dance around! Dance around!" chanted Knuckles.

Shadow continued jumping around with great agility. He was able to get the beast off balance by his speed and turned around ready to strike. However, the beast regained balance faster than Shadow calculated and when Shadow jumped at it with the sword, the Hydra moved faster than him and plucked him out of mid air. It growled a victory.

"Oh snap…," was all Shadow said before it flung him into the air and ate him whole. His sentence was cut short as the creature snapped its jaw closed. The entire crowd became silent.

"Sh-Shadow...?" Silver whimpered unable to believe what he saw.

"There goes another one… Just like Achilles…," Knuckles sighed with disappointment and grief.

The Hydra grinned and lunged towards the crowd. Everyone scattered in a stampede of screaming people. However, it stopped. It began to scream and thrash around and jerked to a stop. A sword sliced through its throat and the sword cut its head off. The Hydra's body falls to the ground. Everyone rises to their feet and they see Shadow emerge from the monster weakly. Knuckles and Silver run up to him quickly.

"Dude! You're alive!" Silver cried.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! I JUST CAN'T! You beat the Hydra!" yelled Knuckles excitedly.

Shadow groaned and tried to stand up, but found himself face flat on the ground after he tried. Knuckles pulled on his arm.

"Hey! How many fists do you see?" he asked.

Shadow looked up. He looked as if he were counting to a high number. "Seven…"

"Eh. Close enough. Come on, we've got a lot of work to do if we want you to look decent ever again," Knuckles said motioning for Silver to support him on one side as he got his other side.

Orbot looked fearfully at Eggman and shrunk down. However, Eggman didn't even seem bothered by the win!

"Relax! The fight isn't over yet!" Eggman told his subjects.

The Hydra's body moved again. It stood up from the ground and three heads grew in the spot where there used to be only one head. Shadow, Silver, and Knuckles turned to see the three-headed monster running even faster towards them. Shadow felt a sudden burst of energy within him. Mostly from his fear of getting eaten and crushed again.

"This is definitely not good!" cried Silver as He ran by Shadow to help him this time. They took to the air and Silver's amazing skills of dodging in the air with his psychokinesis was put into action. They looped through the air and Shadow's weariness evaporated. He had his sword in his hand and he was slicing heads left and right (Yeesh…). Eventually, there were more heads than Shadow or Silver could count. Knuckles was yelling at them from the ground.

"Would you knock off the head-slicing!?" he shouted.

One of the heads knocked Silver back to the ground. He lost control of Shadow and both hedgehogs were among the Hydra. Shadow was being dragged left and right by all the heads who all wanted to eat him. He was flung out of the jungle of necks and was cornered against a wall. There was no escape. A few people in the audience took their hats off for him.

"This is not how I'm going out!" Shadow yells and punches the large rock wall he was up against. The ground shook for a second and the large rocks at the top cracked. The Hydra picked up Shadow but then looked up. The rocks were going to fall on it. Shadow smirks as the Hydra squeals in fear and drowns in the sea of rocks. Shadow tries to escape, but he is dragged down with the Hydra in its claws.

Knuckles and Silver stood up. Were both Shadow and the creature dead? They didn't see either.

"He saved us all…," Vala said quietly.

"He was a hero…," Cream said.

"Chao!" Cheese agreed.

"Is he gone...?" asked Silver.

"Check mate!" Eggman yelled in victory. He stood up and started dancing around.

The claws of the Hydra trembled and began to move. Was the Hydra really dead?! Was it going to shove away the rocks and kill them all? The people watching prepared themselves to run. Shadow burst out of the claws of the Hydra and hopped to the ground. Everyone watching got to their feet and cheered. A beam of sunlight hit Shadow's fur and he could feel as if the gods had seen it all and couldn't be prouder. Shadow waved to everyone and got paraded off to the town with everyone cheering behind him.

"You've gotta admit… That was pretty heroic," Shadow said as he passed Knuckles.

"Ya did it! You won by a landslide!" Knuckles cheered excitedly. He was hugging Silver and jumping up and down.

"Okay! Okay! He did it! Let go!" cried Silver.

As Zaira watched everything that had happened, she secretly rooted for him. When he won she actually quietly applauded him as well. "Well, what do you know…"

Eggman was now steaming mad. Orbot and Cubot hid behind a giant rock as Eggman exploded

leaving fires all over the place. Zaira rolled her eyes.

"From that day on, Shadow was the greatest and most loved hero in the world! He was so hot, steam looked cool," said Tikal.

 _Bless my soul,_

 _Shadow was on a roll!_

 _Hedgehog of the week in every Greek opinion poll!_

 _What a pro!_

 _Shadow could stop a show._

 _Point him at a monster and you're talkin' S.R.O.!_

 _He was a no one._

 _A zero, a zero._

 _Now, he's a honcho!_

 _He's a hero!_

 _He was a kid with his act down pat!_

 _Zero to hero_

 _in no time flat!_

 _Zero to hero_

 _Just like that!_

 _When he smiled the girls went wild_

 _with oohs and aahs._

 _They slapped his face on every vase!_

 _On every "Vahse!"_

 _From appearance fees and royalties,_

 _or Shad had cash to burn._

 _Now nouveau riche and famous_

 _he could tell ya' what's a grecian urn._

 _Say amen!_

 _There he goes again!_

 _Sweet and undefeated!_

 _And an awesome ten for ten!_

 _Folks line up just to watch him flex._

 _And this perfect package packed a pair of pretty pecs!_

 _Shadow, he comes, he sees, he conquers._

 _Honey, the crowds were going bonkers!_

 _He showed the moxie, brains, and spunk!_

 _From zero to hero._

 _A major hunk!_

 _Zero to hero._

 _And who'd have thunk?!_

 _Who put the glad in gladiator?_

 _Shadow see?!_

 _Who daring deeds are great theater?_

 _Shadow indeed!_

 _Is he bold?_

 _No one braver!_

 _Isn't he sweet?_

 _Our favorite flavor!_

 _Shadow here._

 _Shadow there._

 _Shadow near._

 _Shadow's fair._

 _Shadow's clear._

 _He has no fear._

 _His pride's not smeared._

 _Bless my soul!_

 _Shad is on a roll!_

 _Undefeated!_

 _Riding high!_

 _And the nicest guy._

 _Not conceited._

 _He was a nothing, zero, zero._

 _Now he's a honcho, he's our hero!_

 _He hit the heights at breakneck speed!_

 _From zero to hero!_

 _Shad is a hero!_

 _Now he's a hero!_

"Yes indeed!" shouted all the Muses.

ZairaDrayan: Chapter 4 finished! After this, I'll be going back to the Sonic Hawaii story and work on chapter 2.

Sonic: We're still doing that? I thought you dropped that story!

Shadow: She never drops stories! You saw what she did when she saw CrusaderTransformer1's unfinished Shadow of the Opera story! I'll never get over that… We're still doing the bloopers! HOW DOES SHE FLIPPIN' CARRY A PIPE ORGAN?!

Silver: Don't ask me. I wasn't holding it.

ZairaDrayan: Quiet, please! I'll just end the story before they start yelling again. Hope you enjoyed!

Amy: Hey, Sonic! You wanna go surfing?

Sonic: Help...


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

ZairaDrayan: I'm back with chapter 5! I'm not going to make any more promises on what I'm going to do due to random inspiration coming and going. I'm unpredictable. If I upload lots of stuff all at once, that usually means that I am going crazy with inspiration. Keep that in mind. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this!

Dr. Eggman lobbed a fireball at a statue of Shadow. He watched it crumble before him. Zaira was there as she watched Orbot and Cubot set up a bunch of statues of Shadow everywhere. Eggman would destroy them in a deep fit of rage. He had come at the hedgehog with all he had, but it was no use. Zaira sighed.

"Nice shootin' Eggie…," she said.

"I can't believe this guy! I throw everything at him! It all just doesn't work!" yelled Eggman. He struck another statue and watched it crumble with satisfaction. He looks over at Cubot who is wearing a new pair of shoes. Eggman looks at them and stops. "What are those?"

"Uh… I thought they looked kinda… cool…," Cubot replied. When he looked at the shoes, he noticed that a picture of Shadow the Hedgehog was on the side. He suddenly realized his mistake in buying the shoes.

"I've got 24 hours to get rid of Shadow the Rathog, or the entire scheme that I've been planning for eighteen years goes up in flames and YOU ARE WEARING HIS MERCHANDISE!" screamed Eggman lifting up Cubot from the ground about to blast him with a fireball. A slurping sound interrupted him.

"Uh… thirsty?" asked Orbot holding up a drink with a picture of Shadow on it.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" screamed Eggman causing an earthquake and throwing the two robots against a wall.

"Looks like your little game is over. Wonderboy is hitting every curve you throw at him…," Zaira

said almost tauntingly.

Eggman stopped and smirked at her. He couldn't help but notice that she was gazing at Shadow after his last victory. Zaira almost had a dreamy look in her eyes and a plan formed in Eggman's evil head. "Maybe I haven't been throwing the right curves my sweet little butterfly…"

"Don't even go there!" Zaira snapped getting uncomfortable.

"Well, he's gotta have a weakness… Everyone's got a weakness if you know what I mean! Sonic, he hates water, Rouge has a weakness for jewels, and Knuckles has a weakness for the Master Emerald. We simply need to figure out Shadow's!" Eggman explained.

"I've done my part! You'd best-"

"They couldn't handle him as a baby… We need someone who can handle him as a man…," Eggman explained.

"I've sworn off man-handling! Hog-handling is included…," Zaira explained.

"Well, you know, that's good because that's what got you into the jam in the first place, isn't it? You sold your soul to me to save your boyfriend's life. And how does this creep thank you? By running off with some babe. He hurt you real bad, didn't he, Zaira? Huh?" he went on.

"I learned my lesson okay?! Just leave it alone!"she snapped.

"Hey! Because you learned your lesson, you're gonna jump for joy when you hear this new offer! You give me the key for bringing down wonder rat and I give you the thing you've always wanted! Your freedom?" Eggman offered.

Zaira's wings froze. She had wanted her freedom for so long… There was nothing more she wanted. Although, if she had to put Shadow in danger, was it really worth it?

Shadow had left the clearing from his last victory to go speak with his father Sonic the Hedgehog in the Temple of Sonic. He was telling Sonic about all of his many victories he had obtained almost as if he were six years old and trying to impress his parents. Sonic marveled at how well he was doing.

Shadow was using Silver as the bad guy to demonstrate how he won. "You should've been there! I mangled the minotaur!" Shadow grabbed onto Silver while Silver acted as if he were choking. "I grabbed with the Gorgon! Then, I decided to take Knuckles' advice by analyzing the situation, controlled my strength, and… KICKED!" Shadow yelled kicking Silver. Silver screeched with false pain and fell into the water as if Shadow had kicked him very hard. Silver pretended to be dead. "The crowd went wild!" Silver sat up and began waving a bunch of flags to support Shadow and cheered. "Thank you! Thank you!" Shadow yelled to his audience. Sonic laughed.

"Hah! You're doing great! You're makin' me one happy hedgehog!"

"Aw… That was nothin'! Today is the day I've been waiting for, though…," Shadow replied.

"What day is that? Did I forget to check my calendar again?!" asked Sonic looking at his calendar.

"The day I rejoin the gods…," Shadow told him.

Sonic sat up and had an awkward expression on his face. Shadow's heart sank because he knew what that usually meant… It wasn't…

"You're doing well, but you're not a true hero just yet…," Sonic explained regretfully.

Shadow felt crushed. It was his dream to return to where he belonged. How could he possibly belong on Earth? "What more can I do to become a bigger hero?! I've beaten everything I've gone against, I've saved more lives than anyone can count, and I'm the most famous person in Greece!"

"Being famous isn't the same as being a true hero!" Sonic told Shadow.

"It's not fair! I've done as much as I can do! What am I missing?!" demanded Shadow beginning to lose his patience.

"It's something you have to find out for yourself…," Sonic stated still feeling bad about bringing Shadow down like he did.

"But- How can I-?!"

"Look within your heart Shadow… You'll find the answer there…," Sonic said fading away in a gust of wind. The place went silent.

Silver stood up and walked over to Shadow who was still standing dumbfounded in front of the regal statue of Sonic. He felt his rage burn inside. He wasn't ready yet?! Shadow pounded his fist against the floor leaving a huge crack in it. He almost didn't care anymore. Silver left the room and left Shadow alone with his thoughts…

The next day, Shadow was going back through the daily routine. What was that? Go exercise, get mobbed, have breakfast with some important person, get mobbed, battle some monster that's destroying the city, get mobbed, and pose for artists before getting mobbed! What could be better?! In fact, he was posing for the artist in a bunch of lion skins while folding up a sword to make him look regal. Knuckles was going through the schedule for that day. Shadow was trying not to move.

"At 1:00 you got a meeting with king Augeas. He's got a problem with his stables. I'd advise you not to wear your new sandals," Knuckles announced.

"I don't wear sandals…," Shadow explained.

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO MOVE!" yelled the artist.

Shadow got back into position. "Um… Knuckles? Can I ask-"

"D.G.R., the Daughters of the Greek Revolution. Yeah… You gotta meet with them too…," Knuckles continued without noticing.

"Knux?" asked Shadow again.

"At 3:00 you gotta get a girdle from some amazons. Don't ask me why!" Knuckles shouts.

"KNUCKLES!" Shadow yelled throwing the skins off of him and throwing the sword to the ground. The artist screamed with anger and threw his paintbrush on the ground. He left without another word. Knuckles looked over in surprise. "What's the point in all of this?! None of this stuff is gonna get me anywhere!"

"Not get you anywhere?! You wanna go to Olympus, don't ya?!" asked Knuckles.

"Yes! It's just that it seems that I'm not progressing…," sighed Shadow.

"You can't give up now. I'm counting on ya!" Knuckles persisted.

"I don't know anymore it seems like… What should I do…? What Sonic said yesterday…," Shadow mumbled.

Knuckles looked at him with a sincere look on his face. "Listen to me, Shad. I've seen 'em all. And I am telling' you - and this is the honest-to-Sonic truth - you got somethin' I have never seen before."

"Really?"

"I feel it in my bones. There's nothing you can't do."

Suddenly the doors swung open. A horde of girls was standing at the door. One look at Shadow and they all began to squeal and charged! Shadow tried to run, but someone grabbed onto his arm and dragged him into the chaos.

"I touched his elbow!" shouted one fan girl.

"I saw the chaos emerald!"

"I GOT HIS SWEATBAND!" screamed one at the top of her lungs. All the girls then stopped and began to attack her. Shadow took this chance.

"Knuckles, HELP!" Shadow cried desperately about to get dragged into the herd again.

"Alright, escape plan beta! Go!" Knuckles announced.

Knuckles blew a whistle and ran to the door. While the girls were looking at him, Shadow runs away in a flash. The fangirls look around in bewilderment.

"Where'd he go?" one asked.

Knuckles opened the door and pointed outside. "There he goes! On the veranda!"

The girls and Knuckles all run out the door and closed it with a slam. Zaira appeared then from behind the door. She glanced around trying to find Shadow knowing that he didn't leave. She looked under a curtain in a dressing room. She grabs onto the cord that opens it.

"Let's see what's behind curtain number 1!" Zaira announces pulling the cord. The curtain flung open to reveal Shadow hiding an extra minute just in case. He jumped to his feet in surprise.

"Z-Zaira!" he realized with even more surprise.

"Oh yeah… It's fine. The sea of raging hormones has ebbed," Zaira stated.

"It's, um…, great to see you! Um… I did sort of miss… you," Shadow said trying not to stutter which only resulted in there being large gaps in his sentences. He wanted to scold himself.

"Sort of? Why do I doubt that?" she asked looking around. She found Knuckles' schedule and began to read it while Shadow was trying to think of what to say next. "This is what heroes do on their days off?"

Shadow nodded. "I am a hero… According to some…," Shadow said remembering what Sonic had told him.

"According to some? What's that supposed to mean? Everybody in Greece thinks you're the greatest thing since they put the pocket in pita!" she exclaimed.

"I know. It's-it's crazy you know, I can't go ten inches out the door without being mobbed, I mean—"

"I think you could use a break. Do you think your nanny echidna would mind if we go play hooky this afternoon?" asked Zaira.

Shadow stopped. That did sound better than what was planned. Although, would Knuckles really approve of such a thing? "Um… Knuckles has me booked and doesn't like it when I try to do something to ruin his plans. I don't really want to make him mad…"

"Oh come on! You basically just lift up the wall and we're gone!" Zaira persisted.

Shadow thought for another long moment. A smile crossed his face. Who was the important person here? What did he **want** to do? He wanted more to play hooky with her rather than go to a bunch of boring meetings with boring important people. He nods.

That evening when the sun went down, the two of them were hanging out in a large garden that was made dedicated to Shadow. They were talking and having a good time as they were strolling around. Zaira couldn't help enjoying his presence a little bit.

"Today is now officially the best day of my life! I never knew that playing hooky could be so great. There was that restaurant by the bay, that play, and- Oh man! It was too great to talk about!" Shadow stated a smidge out of character.

"Yeah…," Zaira agreed.

Zaira looked over and saw two birds bathing in a bird bath. They looked at her and she realized that they were spies. They weren't birds at all.

"Stop fooling around cut to the chase!" Cubot whispered to Zaira. Orbot was nodding behind him.

"You know, I should be thanking you for all of this. Thanks," Shadow told her. He didn't even notice the bird spies.

"Oh… Don't thank me just ye- Ow!" Zaira yelled grabbing onto her wing in pain.

"What?!" demanded Shadow.

"Wing cramp… Happens a lot…," Zaira replied.

"Maybe you should stop flying for two seconds and try sitting down. I'm pretty sure that all the flying around you did today was the cause of that," Shadow said.

Zaira was actually lying about the cramp. She just nodded because she really didn't want to lie. She then wanted to leave when Shadow sat next to her. She had to go at this a little longer and then she'd be free from Eggman's grasp.

"Do you have problems like cramping wings? Anything wrong with you at all?" Zaira asked.

"Uh… Nope," Shadow answered.

"Anything about you that annoys you?" Zaira persisted.

"I did accidentally give myself a paper cut last week… That was the most annoying thing that I've ever experienced!" Shadow answered thinking back on it.

"No! I mean, weaknesses is what I'm talking about!" Zaira said.

"Well… Nope. None that I can think of. I'm fit as a fiddle!" Shadow stated as he stood up. Of course, he didn't want to suspect anything so he didn't.

"Wonderboy, you are perfect," Zaira commented.

"Thanks!"

Shadow picked up a coin from the ground and sent it skipping across the water in a little pond. It crashed into a statue of Venus breaking off the arms from the statue. "Whoops…"

"It looks better that way! No, it really does," Zaira told him.

"When I was younger, I would have done anything to fit in. Everyone would avoid me… I wanted to be exactly like everyone else," he said.

"You wanted to be petty and dishonest?"

"What? Everybody's not like that!" Shadow objected.

"Yes! They are!" Zaira answered thinking about all that she had seen and felt in the past.

Shadow stopped. He looked into her eyes with an expression that was soft and serious at the same time. "You're not like that."

Zaira flinched. He was almost too trusting. He was drawing her in without even knowing it! She shook her head trying to snap out of it. "How do you know what I'm like?!" she demanded.

"All I know is.. You're the most amazing person with… cramping wings I've ever met, Shadow told her.

Zaira took a step backward and got pricked by the arrow of the statue Amur. She turned it around with annoyance.

"When I'm with you I don't feel so alone," Shadow explained.

"Maybe it's better to be alone…," sighed Zaira.

"Why?"

"No one can hurt you."

Shadow pressed his hands into hers. "I would never hurt you."

Zaira officially began to get nervous. He was a fishing rod and she just took the bait. Their eyes were locked and were holding hands. "Yeah… I don't wanna hurt you so… let's do us both a favor… and stop this… before… we-"

She just gave up in resisting and they were leaning in for, well, if you don't like romance, then I'll just not say it. Sorry for those who do. However, right before that happened, Silver and Knuckles showed up with a helicopter searchlight with Silver whipping around the air to make him sound like a helicopter! Knuckles spoke to them with a megaphone.

"ALL RIGHT! BREAK IT UP! BREAK IT UP PEOPLE! PARTY'S OVER! SHADOW, YOU'RE SO DEAD AFTER THIS!" yelled Knuckles over his megaphone.

Shadow laughed awkwardly at what just happened. He stepped away from Zaira and then glared at Knuckles.

"I know! I know! I'm totally dead for taking a day off without permission Knucklehead!" Shadow snapped.

"KNUCKLEHEAD?!" demanded Knuckles.

"Knucklehead! Hot head! Redhead! GUY WITH ANGER ISSUES!" Shadow snapped.

"Hey! You listen to what he says!" Silver growled at Shadow as he landed on the ground in front of him. He hisses at Zaira. Zaira, in reply, turned off his searchlight and growled back with a smirk on her face.

"Girlie, you're already on my bad side! Don't make it worse! Come on, Shad! You're going to the stadium where you're gonna get the workout of your life! Silver, away!" Knuckles commanded.

"You can't tell me what to do! Not like that!" Silver retorted.

Shadow waved to Zaira and jumped up into a tall tree. He plucked a purple flower from a branch and hopped back down to the ground. He gave her the flower and flew away with Silver and Knuckles. Knuckles was yelling all the way. Shadow rolled his eyes and couldn't pull his gaze away from Zaira. She only waved as they flew away.

"Move! Move, move, move, move, move! Move!" they took to the air. Knuckles tried to get Shadow to focus on where he was going with no success. "Whoo! Ya-eee! Hey, watch it, watch it! Whoo! Watch it! Keep your goo-goo eyes on the-" Knuckles was trying all he could, but got knocked out of the sky by a branch. He fell on his head on the ground. Little Silver the Hedgehogs were flying around his head. "That's it! Next time I drive…," Knuckles shouted as he passed out.

Meanwhile back with Zaira, she was smelling the flower and smiling to herself. She then realized what in the world she was doing and put it down with a sigh.

"What's the matter with me?! I've felt this way before and ended up regretting it! You'd think a girl would learn!" she scolded herself. The five muses saw her and listened to her for a second.

Zaira: If there's a prize for rotten judgment

I guess I've already won that

No man is worth the aggravation

That's ancient history been there, done that!

Muses: Who d'ya think you're kidding?

He's the Earth and Heaven to you

Try to keep it hidden, honey,

We can see right through you

Zaira: Oh, No

Muses: Girl, you can't conceal it

We know how you feel and

Who you're thinking of

Zaira: Oh no, no chance, no way,

I won't say it, no, no

Muses: You swoon, you sigh, why deny it, uh-oh?

Zaira: It's too cliche, I won't say I'm in love

Muses: Shoo-doo, shoo-doo, oo-oo-oo

Zaira: I thought my heart had learned its lesson

It feels so good when you start out...

Muses: Ahhh.

Zaira: My head is screaming get a grip, girl

Unless you're dyin' to cry your heart, oh

Muses: You keep on denying

Who you are and how you're feelin'

Baby, we're not buyin' hon,

We saw you hit the ceiling

Face it like a grown-up

When you gonna own up that you

Got Got Got it bad

Zaira: Oh, no chance, no way,

I won't say it, no, no

Muses: Give up, but give in,

Check the grin, you're in love

Zaira: This scene won't play,

I won't say I'm in love

Muses: You're doing flips, read our lips

You're in love shoo-doo, shoo-doo

Zaira: You're way off base,

I won't say it

(Muses: She won't say in love)

Get off my case,

I won't say it

Muses: Girl, don't be proud,

it's okay, you're in love

Zaira: Oh.. At least at loud

I won't say I'm in love...

Muses: Shoo-doo, shoo-doo, shoo-doo, shoo-doo Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la Haaa

Dr. Eggman comes and walks up to Zaira. She sits up quickly in surprise. She hides the flower behind her back.

"Hey! What's the buzz, huh, Zaira? What is the weak link in Shadow's chain?" asked Eggman.

"Get yourself another girl! I'm through!" Zaira snapped. She wasn't going to harm Shadow anymore.

"I'm sorry. You're going to have to repeat that. I think my ears were a little clogged up," Eggman said unable to believe what he heard.

"Then read my lips! Forget it!" Zaira hissed. She turned her back on him.

"Zair, Zair, Zair, my little minion butterfly. Aren't we forgetting a tiny little detail? I OWN YOU!" Eggman yelled.

Knuckles then starts to wake up not too far away in the bushes. He groans and rubs his head as he sits up. "I think I grew a horn… The bump on my head is huge… Shadow's going to be doing laps for me for a month!" Knuckles snapped. He then heard two people talking to each other. Knuckles glanced over and spied through the bush.

"You work for me! If I say, "sing", you say, "hey, name that tune" If I say, "I want Wonderboy's head on a platter" you say—"

"Medium or well done… I'll work on that," Zaira sighed.

"Oh! I knew that dame was trouble. This is gonna break the kid's heart…," Knuckles said running away to tell Shadow the news that he had overheard.

ZairaDrayan: Yay! The chapter is done! There aren't many more chapters until the end! Hope that you continue giving me the support I need to make stories! Hope you liked this!


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

ZairaDrayan: Back with chapter six and after this, there'll be only one or two chapters left! Don't you just love the feeling of the accomplishment of finishing a long story that you've been working on for a while that's over fifty pages long? Yep. That's this. I'm on page 49 actually. Anyway, enjoy! AND YES. THIS TOOK FOREVER TO MAKE. SORRY.

Zaira and Eggman had no idea that Knuckles had just run away to alert Shadow of what they were planning. They simply continued on with the conversation.

"Did you hear that? I think that sounded like your freedom jumping out the window!" Eggman snapped.

"I don't care! I'm not hurting him."

"Pfft! I can't believe you're getting so worked up over a rat!"

"He's a hedgehog! Besides, Shadow is different from all the others. He's kind, gentle, honest, sweet…," she said before realizing what she was talking about. Eggman had a smug look on his face. "Eggman- just no! NO! He would never do anything to hurt me!"

"Oh, come on! Just a few words…," Eggman tried.

"Oh yeah, he's got no weaknesses! You can't beat him! He's-"

Eggman stood up and smirked. "Zaira, he does. I know it now. It's all thanks to you… I'm sure you can figure it out…"

Meanwhile, Shadow was practicing the horizontal bar from the Olympics that he had entered and won. He was looping and swinging with a dreamy half-smile on his face. Knuckles ran up to him with the urgent news. However, Shadow was so wrapped up with comparing Zaira that he hardly noticed.

"Well, it's about time that you got back! It was getting kind of boring only talking to Silver about her! Today was the greatest!" Shadow said doing chin-ups on the bar while doing the splits.

"Listen! Shad, I've got somethin' to tell ya… It's about her. She's a… kinda…," Knuckles stuttered. He didn't know how to put it to make Shadow believe him without him getting mad. There was no way!

"What? I'm listening," Shadow stated.

"I'll only tell you if you come down here!" Knuckles told him.

Shadow shook his head at his trainer. "How can I come down if my head is up in the clouds?" he asked.

"Well, don't make me root you to the ground. Fine, I'll tell you now if you aren't gonna take it any other way! Zaira-"

"Is the nicest girl in history?"

"She's-"

"More beautiful than Blaze the Cat?" Shadow asked Silver. Silver shook his head no. He stood up and began to run out of the stadium. As soon as he left, he saw a cat. Not just any cat. Blaze the Cat. She waved at him. Silver's heart began to thud like a hammer as he saw her beckon him over inside two large doors. He couldn't help but follow.

"Blaze? Where are you? What do you want?" asked Silver trying to sound casual. Turns out, she disappeared. Gone. There was no trace of her! Suddenly, the doors closed behind him! Darkness surrounded him and ropes were wrapped around his arms and legs. The mysterious being knocked Silver on the head causing him to pass out.

Knuckles wasn't really getting anywhere with Shadow. He was too happy (that's a first)! Knuckles just finally lost his temper.

"SHE'S A FRAUD! SHE'S BEEN PLAYIN' YA FOR A SAP!" Knuckles yelled angrily.

Shadow stopped so fast that the eery silence scared them both. He jumped down from his perch and walked over. His face was a mix of hurt and anger at the same time. "Wh-What do you mean?"

"She's working with Hades! Her main objective is to get rid of you! I heard her say it herself!" Knuckles explained.

Shadow flattened his ears and narrowed his eyes. "You expect me to believe that?! I've seen the way you look at her! I know you hate her! Does that mean I should as well?! Why make this up?!" demanded Shadow.

"I'm not making this up! I hate this as much as you do!" Knuckles shouts back.

"You say your words are the truth, but they are not the truth! You speak in lies!" Shadow objected.

Knuckles was taken aback. He was accusing him of lying! It wasn't himself. It was Shadow who was lying. Lying to himself. Why was he fighting the truth? Or did he really believe in what he said? He felt the belief in his words. He was too dedicated. Now that his mind was fixed on something, he wasn't going to change it.

"I'm not lying! She really is a two-timing, no-good, lying, scheming-"

"SHUT UP!" Shadow yelled slapping Knuckles in the face. Knuckles obtained a nasty bruise from the impact of his hand. The echidna only stood up, dusted himself off, and began to walk away.

"Fine. If you don't wanna face the truth, then fine. I'm going home," Knuckles said without giving any more effort to stop Shadow.

Shadow was a little surprised. His ears drooped a little and his face softened. It was only for a moment. He hardened every sense within himself and growled at his ex-mentor. "Fine! I don't need you! Just go!" He then turned and began his exercises again alone in the stadium.

"I thought you were going to be the all-time champ… Not the all-time chump," Knuckles sighed outside the doors of the stadium.

Shadow was alone for two seconds. Once those two seconds were over, an egg-shaped man was sitting on the bleachers with a large, orange mustache. Shadow didn't recognize him. He gave the man an odd glance and returned to his training. However, the man then came to him.

"Sheesh! What got his goat? My name is Dr. Eggman, you know, Lord of the Dead. How's it going?" asked Eggman. He stuck his hand out to shake hands with Shadow. He simply stared at Eggman's hand and walked around him.

"Listen, I'm not in the mood."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah! Don't worry! Just two seconds! I talk fast! I've got this major deal in the works. Really big, you see. Shad- can I call you Shad- you keep getting in the way of things!" Eggman explained quickly.

"You've got the wrong guy."

"JUST HEAR ME OUT YOU- Eh. Heh. Heh… Sorry. All I'm asking of you is to take a day off from all of this hero business. I mean really?! Fighting monsters, all the girls, all the natural disasters, ETC! Imagine… A day off with none of that…," Eggman continued.

"You're insane!" Shadow yelled. He tried to walk past him again but was stopped.

"Hang on a sec! There's another little part I forgot to mention…," Dr. Eggman stated. He snaps his fingers and Zaira appears. She takes a step forward and begins to yell a protest. However, with another snap of Eggman's fingers, Zaira got restrained by a long rope of thorny vines. She instantly vanished again.

"Zaira?! You let her go or I'll-!" Shadow yelled only to be stopped in mid-sentence by Eggman interrupting.

"Here's the trade-off. You give up your powers for one day and Zaira is free and safe from harm. Is that enough?" asked Eggman.

Shadow thought it over. He knew what was going on. The stakes were just too high. "People are going to get hurt, aren't they?"

Eggman laughed. "What makes you think that! You'll get Zaira and a day off! Besides, isn't she more important than those other people?!"

Shadow shook his head almost insulted that he was being taunted with this. "Stop it!"

"Well, isn't she?!"

Eggman stopped and inhaled. "Fine. Give up your strength and if Zaira gets hurt, you get your powers back instantly. DEAL NOW?!"

Shadow thought for another long second. He sighed and stepped forward slowly. When they shook hands to seal the deal it was the worst thing Shadow had ever felt. His energy left through his fingers and hand. His legs seemed to give out from under him, unable to take any more. He felt weak. He felt puny. He felt like a fool. It was horrible. Eggman smirked when he saw Shadow on the ground gasping and helpless.

"Now, you feel exactly like everybody else… Isn't it just peachy? Well, a deal's a deal!" Eggman announces. He snaps his fingers and Zaira appears. She was no longer strangled up in vines and he shoved her towards Shadow. "Zair, you're off the hook! By the way, Shad. She was working for me the whole time! Isn't she, like the greatest, cutest, best little actress?"

Shadow sat up from the ground baffled. "What-? What are you saying?!"

"She was working for me. Duh!"

Zaira looked back to Shadow. "I didn't want to hurt you in any way! He forced me to do this! I- You see- I'm… I'm sorry," she said quickly looking away.

Shadow shakily stood to his feet and looked to first Zaira and then Eggman. He didn't believe Zaira one bit anymore. However, he believed Eggman. He was going to do something evil. Something that would ruin the world.

"Well, gotta run! I've got some Titans to awaken!" yelled Eggman with a quick wave of farewell. He raced away in his dark chariot.

Before long, Eggman reached the seal. He peered into the ocean and the planets then aligned… The oceans created a hole in the water and the Titans stared up at Eggman.

"Brothers, look at you in your prison! Who put you down there?!" demanded Eggman.

"SONIC!" the Titans bellowed.

"And now I set you free! What is the first thing you'll do?!" asked Eggman awaiting the answer he'd been waiting for.

"DESTROY HIM!"

"Good answer."

Lythos stomped around crushing everything in its way. Hydros froze whatever it found on the ground. Pyros melted everything with it magma-like body. Stratos whipped around everything with its strong winds. Each of them had one purpose. To destroy the blue hedgehog. However…

"Uh… GUYS! Olympus is THAT way," Eggman pointed in the opposite direction. The Titans stood where they were for a moment. They all turned around and began to storm the other way. The Titans had a terrible sense of direction.

Eggman stopped the cyclops from following him. He just had to make sure that his plans weren't foiled again. "Hold it, bright eye. I have a job for you."

 **On Mt. Olympus…**

"Holy Amy! Is that what I think it is?!" demanded Charmy looking through his telescope. He immediately buzzed away and was before Sonic and Amy in an instant. He stood, panting before them. "Sonic! Amy! Th-The Titans have escaped! They're practically at our gates!"

Sonic hardly had a moment to be alarmed. "Well, sound the darn alarms then!"

"Yes, sir!" Charmy buzzed. He flew through Olympus blowing his bugle. All of the gods get the message and prepare for battle.

"Charge! On to battle!"

"More thunderbolts!"

"Sharpen those weapons now!"

 _Crash! Crash!_

Sonic grunts and holds up his last thunderbolt. He was just lobbing them in vain. He hadn't even made a dent. Several of his soldiers were already caught. There was almost no hope. "Shadow, where are you?"

 **Meanwhile…**

"Shadow?! Where are you?! Why don't you come out and fight me like a hog?!" demanded the cyclops stomping around Thebes and causing destruction. Shadow looked up at it defiantly and took a step towards it. Zaira grabbed onto his arm.

"You can't go! Without your strength or speed, he'll kill you!" she pleaded.

Shadow barely looked at her. "There are worse things…"

When the villagers saw him, they began to cheer. Their confidence in him dragged him down even more. He knew that he was only going to disappoint them. Even so, he still had to make a stand. Even if it was the last time he'd ever stand.

The cyclops looks over at Shadow and laughs to himself. He crouched down and looked at the tiny hedgehog. "So, you're the mighty Shadow! Ha!" he laughs. With that, he punched Shadow and sent him flying backward and Shadow crashed into the side of a building with the wind knocked out of him.

Zaira left unable to watch anymore. She then got an idea. She'd have to find the only one who could snap Shadow out of it. She ran off and remembered that Silver was still a little tied up. She raced to find him. When she did, Silver flinched and backed away from her with a frown.

"What do you want?! There's no way I'm going to help you with anything!" he snapped.

"Oh, put a sock in it! We have to save Shadow! Where's Knuckles?!" she demanded to the Silver hedgehog.

Silver bolted away with Zaira flying next to him. He looked down on the destroyed city of Thebes. His eagle eyes located Knuckles at the docks about to board a ship back home. Zaira swooped down to catch him before he left.

"Knuckles! Wait!" she cried.

"What do you want now?! Aren't you off to manipulate Shad even more?!" Knuckles demanded crossly.

"No. He won't… listen to me…," she explained.

"That hog finally got some sense into his noggin. Now, go away!"

Zaira huffed and swooped down in front of them giving Knux a stern look that made him take a step backward. "You don't understand… He looks up to you and this is about him. If you don't help him out, he'll die!"

 **Back on Mt. Olympus…**

"Somebody get me more thunderbolts! More tornadoes! More of anything!" yelled Sonic desperately.

Charmy shook his head. "Sorry! Everyone's been captured! That's not possible!" Charmy then got captured by Orbot and Cubot with handcuffs. "Even I've been captured! Hey! Watch the wings!"

Pyros and Hydros then harden a mountain around Sonic when the hedgehog was distracted. They laughed victoriously. Eggman approached his arch rival with a smug grin. "Yo, Sonic, I'm home!"

Sonic glared at Eggman. "Eggman! I knew that you had something to do with this! You always do!"

"Well, I don't remember you ever being wrong about that!" Eggman told the hedgehog and began to cackle as Olympus and Sonic the Hedgehog fell.

 **Meanwhile (Again)**...

"Shadow!" yelled Knuckles running through the remains of Thebes trying to find him. It didn't take long…

The cyclops was kicking him and toying with him. Shadow hardly looked like he could move. He was torn up pretty bad. The cyclops punched Shadow into Knuckles and both of them ended up on the ground.

"Kn-Knux?" asked Shadow weakly.

Knuckles got up from the ground. "Yeah! It's me! What are you doing?! Fight back! This guy's a pushover!"

"You were right all along… Dreams are for rookies…," Shadow stated bluntly.

"NO! Giving up is for rookies! You get back out there and win! I'm back because I'm not quitting on you just yet! I'm willing to go the distance. How about you?" asked Knuckles.

Shadow thought for a moment. He slowly got to his feet. His eyes blazed like fire through all the pain and he concentrated on what was around him as well as his enemy.

The cyclops came bounding back and plucked Shadow from the ground. "I'll bite off your head!"

Shadow had snatched a flaming piece of wood and chucked it into his eye. The cyclops screamed in pain and Shadow escaped the grasp of the cyclops and found himself falling and landing on the ground hard. He stood up again and cringed at the pain from the fall, but ignored all of it and found a large piece of string. He knotted the cyclops' feet together and the cyclops fell into a burning house unable to get up. Shadow had won once again.

Silver whistled and Knuckles had to applaud.

The fall from the cyclops caused a quake and a pillar began to topple over, ironically, on top of Shadow. Zaira was the only one who noticed. "Shadow, look out!" She shoved him out of the way and got herself under the pillar. The crash rang all throughout the city. The people began to come out of hiding and were all watching.

Shadow stood up in terror. He grabbed onto the pillar and pulled as hard as he could to try to lift it. Little by little, he was able to lift it. Then, lifting it was nothing. He stared at his hands in wonderment. "What's happening?"

Zaira weakly opened her eyes. "Eggman's deal is broken… You get your strength back because I got crushed by a pillar… He promised that I wouldn't get hurt… Heh…"

"W-Why?! Why did you- I mean, you didn't have to-"

"People always do crazy things… when they're in love…"

Shadow could tell that his muzzle was bright red. "Well- I- I… Um…"

Zaira managed to give him a smile. "Are you... always this articulate? You don't have… much time, but you can still stop… Eggman…"

Knuckles stepped forward and rested his hand on Shadow's shoulder. "I'll watch her. You should go save the world…"

Shadow pulled his eyes away and looked to the sky. "I'll be back. I promise. C'mon Silver!" Shadow beckoned. Silver was by him and flying them away in seconds.

 **Back to Olympus…**

"Hup, two, three, four, come on, everybody! I can't hear you!" yelled Cubot tugging on the long chain with all of the gods trapped in.

Sonic wasn't in a much better situation. He was nearly completely under the solid rock and couldn't break free. "I swear to you, Eggman, when I get out of this-" Sonic never finished that one sentence because he was buried under a bunch of solid rock!

"I'm the one giving orders now wind boy!" Eggman said getting a drink.

"Don't get too comfy, Eggy!" Shadow yelled from the sky. Eggman spat out his drink and stood up with terror. The other gods began to cheer!

"It's Shadow!"

"This ought to settle things!" Shadow stated as he broke all of the chains and letting all of the gods free. He then broke Sonic out of the hardened lava with a chaos spear. Sonic dramatically stepped out of the rock and glared at Eggman.

"Thank you, Shadow!" cheered Charmy excitedly.

Pyros tried to hit Shadow but hit Eggman instead. Eggman shook the magma off of him and scowled at the Titan. "Get him! Not me!"

"Thank you, Shadow!" yelled Sonic giving his son a wave. Shadow waved back.

Orbot and Cubot look at Silver knowing that they were going to have **a bad time.** Sure enough, they did!

Sonic smirked and catches two lightning spears. "Just watch me work!" Sonic threw the lightning bolts into the mouth of Lythos which explode! The Titans all turn around and begin to head for the gates of Olympus. Eggman begins to panic and starts pointing to Olympus.

"Guys, get your titanic rears in gears and kick some olympian butt!" he yelled. Silver then snatches Eggman's mustache and begins to laugh. Eggman snatches it back. "You have no right to take that from me!"

Shadow grabs onto Stratos and the tornado Titan sucks all of the other Titans into it. Shadow shakes them around for a second and then throws them into outer space. There they explode with the power of a supernova. The gods all cheer Shadow's name excitedly.

Sonic high-fives Shadow and Shadow absorbs as much praise as he could. Eggman is back on his chariot and glares at them.

"Thanks a ton, Wonderboy. But at least I've got one swell consolation prize. A friend of yours who's dying to see me!" Eggman yelled.

Shadow then remembered. "Z-Zaira!"

Silver and Shadow fly at sound speed across the ocean back to Thebes. The three-headed chao gets out a thread and within their crystal ball of victims was Zaira. They got out their handy-dandy scissors. Right before Shadow made it back, they cut the life thread. Zaira was dead.

Knuckles shook his head sadly to Shadow. "I'm sorry… There are some things that you can't change…"

Shadow, before collapsing, realizes that there is one guy who could undo this. A guy who didn't like him very much. A guy who wouldn't want him back so soon. "Yes, I can, Knux."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

ZairaDrayan: HOLY COW! Final chapter?! Can I finally end this torture? YAY! After this, NO MORE MOVIE CROSSOVERS! I've honed my skills on movie crossovers enough! I want to do my own stories. That's understandable, right? Well, final chapter. One story to get off of my chest.

Eggman banged his fist against a wall out of anger. He had lost and all he got from it was the soul of his old assistant. Orbot and Cubot were huddled in a corner watching in terror.

"We were that close! THAT CLOSE. We just had to trip at the finish line! All because of that hog…," Eggman said as he imagined Shadow and growled. "Also, because our little butterfly had to go all noble."

 _CRASH!_

Eggman jumped and saw Shadow riding on a three-headed dog with Silver sitting just behind him clinging for dear life.

"Let me off! Let me off! Let me off!" Silver cried.

"MAN UP SILVER! Where… is she?" asked Shadow seriously.

Eggman stopped and smirked at Shadow. "Well, lookie here… The 'wonder boy' shows up again! How delightful! You want to see your girlfriend, I'll tell you what! I'll show you! Just so long as the other hedgehog stays here," Eggman said as he pointed to Silver. Shadow nodded and pointed to Silver to say that he wanted Silver to stay put. When the two of them walked away, Silver flinched and glanced up at the dog. He knew what he was. Dog meat.

"Help me…," Silver whimpered.

Eggman walked Shadow to the edge of a very ominous looking cliff. Shadow stared at it and saw a bunch of souls drifting around within the depressing waters below. Eggman saw that Shadow was about to make a dive and pulled him back onto the cliff. "No, no! Mustn't touch! You know, waters of death don't exactly sound good for a living person. Aka, you'd be dead in two minutes.

Shadow stood and thought. His seriousness hardened and he shrugged. "Okay! Take me in her place!"

Eggman froze at the offer. He thought it over a million times in one minute. Shadow tapped his foot impatiently. "Oh, well, the son of my rival lost forever in a raging river of death…"

"Going once!" Shadow yelled.

"Is there a catch to this…?"

"Going twice!"

"Alright! Alright! You get her out, she goes, you stay! Happy?!" demanded Eggman when he finally made his choice. Shadow grinned and dove into the depths below. Eggman then remembered something. "Oh yeah! You'll be dead by the time you get out of there! That's not a problem, is it?!"

"No. Not really," Shadow said as he appeared from behind Eggman with Zaira's soul in his arms. Eggman stood dumbfounded.

"H-HOW?!" he screamed.

"I'm pretty sure that you forgot about this," Shadow said holding up a chaos emerald. He had used it to stop time which allowed him to easily obtain Zaira's soul. He grinned and kicked the fragile ground. The ground cracked and Eggman was gone! Shadow smiled with satisfaction and ran away. Orbot and Cubot stared into the raging waters.

"You know, he's gonna kill us when he gets out…," Orbot stated.

"You mean IF he get's out!" Cubot pointed out.

"If… If is good!"

Shadow returned Zaira to her body and blah, blah, He becomes a god again, blah, blah, blah, decides to stay on Earth, blah…

Shadow: Ahem! You're completely ruining the ending!

Silver: Yeah!

Me: And then you two went bungee jumping.

Shadow: Nevermind!

The End!

Not satisfied? Well… Silver goes bungee jumping… in a street jacket… over a pit of vipers… in a crate… IN A PRISON CELL…

Silver: That's full of marshmallows! XD

Happy now? XD XD XD


End file.
